Gail
(Canada, 92 min.)
Dir. Michael Maxxis
Prod. Morgan Gold, Shane Reid, Raine Maida, Natalie Allan, Michael Maxxis, Jason Murray
Programme: TIFF Docs (World premiere)
“I think of them like family,” says Gail Lichtman. “Will they think of me like that? I don’t know.”
Gail wonders aloud about the reciprocal nature of relationships when musing for the umpteenth time about her love for Our Lady Peace. She’s the ultimate admirer of the Canadian rock band behind hits like “Clumsy” and “Superman’s Dead.” But absolutely under no circumstances should one call Gail a fan.
She’s a friend of the band, she tells filmmaker Michael Maxxis while hitting the road to take in some concerts. As Maxxis follows Gail from her home in New York City to the frosty nether regions of Saskatchewan, this absolute delight of a documentary captures what it means to truly and deeply care about something so passionately that fandom doesn’t even compare to the relationship she has with the band.
The film joins Gail as she trails Our Lady Peace across the Canadian leg of its latest tour. She basks in show after show even though she’s attended well over 100 Our Lady Peace concerts. Gail knows every song by heart, yet savours the experience with inexhaustible thrill.
Every concert, which she rates on a scale from one to elusive tens, provides a new event. Her ratings consider the music, the set-list, the venue, and the crowd’s energy. But they also carry the weight of expectation. Gail says that her favourite Our Lady Peace song is “Hope.” She even has its lyrics tattooed on her arm. Each time she visits the band with a VIP backstage pass—it’s the only way that she knows for sure that she’ll see them—she asks them to play “Hope.” They never do. However, with genuine and earnest devotion, she holds out hope each concert that her favourite tune will engulf the arena.
Gail offers a refreshingly alternative to music documentary in a field that’s become routine. Lichtman’s breadth and depth of historical knowledge of Our Lady Peace ensures that the film accounts for the band’s narrative beats, greatest hits, and contribution to late ’90s early 2000s’ rock. While the band continues to produce music to this day, Gail’s love for OLP feels firmly rooted in their formative work. She’s grown up with the band, formed relationships through their music, and even made friends because of it. She’s a legend that even the bandmates know by name.
The film finds a novel angle to capture this history as Gail has an extraordinary archive of OLP memorabilia. Her collection, which includes album releases not available in the USA, guitar picks and set lists scored at concerts, and a vault’s worth of photographs, covers decades of rock history. Her knowledge of singer Raine Maida, bassist Duncan Coutts, guitarist Steve Mazur, and drummer Jason Pierce straddles the fine line between love and obsession, yet one doesn’t see her tip over the edge. In fact, during one of Gail’s (frequent) musings upon the distinction between “fans” and “friends,” she recounts the strange behaviour of adoring followers that she thinks crosses the line.
Her journey also offers a novel travelogue of Canada. Gail takes in a not-so-scenic route of the country as she experiences Canada through the eyes of its artists. Maxxis has a great sense of humour that remains respectful of Gail’s enthusiasm. She talks about her excitement over seeing our beautiful landscape, but then the image cuts to a taxi splashing through a gigantic puddle in the Saskatchewan thaw. As she travels to Winnipeg (or “Winterpeg”), then to downtown Ottawa and the arena way out in the capital’s western suburb, then down to London and across to New Brunswick, she finds wonder wherever she looks. In Halifax, sadly, she mostly encounters jerks, which provides a nail-biter ending to the tour.
Documentaries like Gail don’t work at all unless the lead proves a dynamic participant. However, Gail redefines documentary gold when it comes to characters. She’s wonderfully talkative and dishes about more than just music. Gail comments upon the artwork of each hotel she visits, interpreting portraits that resemble an Egyptian woman with strawberries in one and an unmistakably phallic one in the next. (Which, of course, reminds her of a recent OLP photo that made her blush.) The film harnesses an infectious sense of joy by observing Gail as she follows her passion. She’s an endearing window into the band.
At the same time, Maxxis finds something deeper in Gail’s rich, endlessly watchable psychology. Her openness and her willingness to be vulnerable takes the story to truly unexpected places. Raising issues of mental health and disability, Gail’s free-flowing thoughts run the gamut about what it means to be loved and how it feels when love seems unrequited. She articulates a clear dynamic of exchange with the band. Their music fuels her, but glimpses into her personal life illuminate the soul-searching origins of her queries.
Her introspection, as well as the sheer delight she conveys when taking in a show, pointedly challenges the idea that people who are alone are lonely. She might seem that way on the surface, but one can have a full life on the road with friends. When every stop on the tour provides a new adventure, the song provides a therapeutic refrain. There’s nothing fake about this, as Our Lady Peace might sing.
