Join us on Canada Day (1 July) for a preview screening.
When their plan to book a show at the Rivoli goes horribly wrong, Matt and Jay accidentally travel back to the year 2008.
The Garden Cinema View:
Matt Johnson and Jay McCarrol’s cult TV show Nirvanna the Band the Show completes an impressive transition into an ambitious feature film that proves accessible and rewarding for fans and newcomers alike. Looping back to the original web series made almost 20 years ago gives everyone a quick primer on the initial stakes of the show, and allows Johnson and McCarrol to engage (sometimes literally) with their own past. Not many films can draw on such an archive of older footage, and there’s a Boyhood-like level of seeing these characters age.
Nostalgia and sentimentality are secondary however the general insanity of Matt and Jay’s eternally unsuccessful efforts to play the Rivoli in Toronto. Think Flight of the Conchords meets Pinky and the Brain. And this affords a broad canvas for an blockbuster parody involving some scarcely believable hidden camera setups, and very funny improvisation.
A very likeable and clever comedy which may finally elevate the hapless duo to headline status.
