Montreal-based indie rock band Arcade Fire is the focus of “The Reflektor Tapes,” the impressionistic concert-documentary-cum-art-film directed by Kahlil Joseph. Led by husband and wife duo, Win Butler and Rรฉgine Chassagne (the group has several other members, though we never hear from them in the film), the band performs songs from its great 2013 album, “Reflektor,” as we cut between studio and live performances filmed at several stops on the North American leg of a worldwide tour. Joseph made a name for himself as a director of avant-garde hip-hop music videos for artists like Kendrick Lamar and Flying Lotus, and here he ladles on all kinds of cinematic pyrotechnics: playing with film stocks, aspect ratios, and weird shooting formats. As a fan of the band, I admit that I was hoping for a little more insight into the group’s creative process, but Joseph deserves credit for at least attempting something a bit more unexpected.
This article appears in Sep 16-22, 2015.
