Gimme Danger

Directed by Jim Jarmusch

Courtesy of TIFF

BY Matthew RitchiePublished Sep 15, 2016

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For over half a century, Iggy Pop has been an incomparable performer, his raw, unbridled power — both onstage and in the studio — gaining him fans and followers across the globe. Along with fellow Michigan natives Dave Alexander, Scott and Ron Asheton (and later James Williamson), he and his band the Stooges practically invented punk, even though the soon-to-be 70-year-old hates to admit it.
 
"I don't want to be punk, I just want to be," he says in the final moments of indie auteur Jim Jarmusch's in-depth documentary and love letter to the band, Gimme Danger. While that statement may surprise some, it makes sense in the greater scope of the film; this is a band that bucked conventions, but never in a dishonest attempt to be dangerous, edgy or some other marketable term. They just were — a scrappy group of Ann Arbor musicians with no real future who went out and made one.
 
Whether you're a hardcore fan or new to the name, Jarmusch digs deep to help instil the importance of a band and an artist that were overlooked and underappreciated in their prime, uncovering unseen footage and candid interviews in the process. It will inspire.
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