The inevitable conflict between musicians and the recording business is neatly captured in this documentary film about Chicago band Wilco. First time filmmaker (and big Wilco fan) Sam Jones' initial idea was of a film about the recording of their album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. The project turned into a film on a larger landscape as unexpected events occurred. Once again, the wonderful nature of documentary filmmaking reveals its power: the non-scripted reality of life.

Jones followed the band over many months as they constructed the album in their city loft. At the start, lead Jeff Tweedy clowns with a face drawn on his belly, and a cigarette in his navel. This will be the album that will put them on the map. A few months later, tension within the group has developed. It becomes so intense that Tweedy is literally purging the stress of an agonizing and divisive moment for the band as Jones' camera follows him to the toilet. This moment of communication breakdown has a palpably universal feel that leaves one twitching uncomfortably.

The process moves on more painfully than playfully but finally yields the finished album. With relief and emotional battle scars from the discord, that left two original band members resentfully behind, the work was presented to Reprise Records who had advanced $200,000 in production costs. The label had been an off-screen presence, allowing the band to lay down the tracks without interference. Through concert footage and interviews with manager Tony Margherita and others, the storm clouds on the horizon become clear. Also clear is the artistry and eager anticipation by fans of Wilco's unique music. Shot in black and white and a style that owes a lot to D.A. Pennebaker (Don't Look Back) and Richard Lester (Hard Day's Night), Jones pays tribute to their style and it works well here.

The friction between artistic and commercial interests has been around as long as there have been recordings but the process has never been captured more poignantly. Liberally infused with Wilco tunes, this film is not for fans only. I confess to knowing only vaguely who they were when I saw the film. Nevertheless, triumphant is not too strong a word for what I felt exiting the theater. Even during the difficult recording period and the brief, unhappy negotiations with Reprise, the band comes jubilantly alive when they perform. In the end this is definitely Wilco's film and about the music prevailing over the music business. After the finished album was met with deafening silence from Reprise (a subsidiary of Warner Bros), the band's contract was simply canceled altogether. Word was the music is not marketable enough. The band was not asked to repay production costs: Don't go away mad, just go away. While continuing to play for large enthusiastic crowds, the search began for a new label. Delicious irony emanates when the band signs with Nonesuch Records in New York, another subsidiary of Warner Bros. Yankee Fox Trot was released in April 2002.

Jeff Tweedy	John Stirratt
Glenn Kotche	Jay Bennett
Leroy Bach	Directed by : Sam Jones