Search - Luna - Tell Me Do You Miss Me on DVD

4.5 stars... excellent addition to the Luna legacy

Paul Allaer | Cincinnati | 01/05/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"In 2007, Dean Wareham released an absolute excellent memoir of his days in the rock world ("Black Postcards"), mostly about his days in Luna, the NY indie-rock band that made great music from 1992 to 2005, but somehow staying under the radar of the mainstream music. It's one of the best books ever written about indie-music.

"Tell Me Do You Miss Me" (145 min.) chronicles the last tour of Luna, before they disbanded in 2005. It's an equally fascinating document that the Wareham book is. The DVD chronicles the last 6 months of the band, as it toured behind the 2004 "Rendezvous" album, and announced before the tour that this would be it. There is a lot of underlying melancholy in the movie, as the band knows that "this is it", in particular as the band revisits all of the cities in Europe, Japan and the US that it has visited before. But more than anything else that stands out is that these guys were indeed just getting by, money was always an issue/a problem. They are not superstars, yet at the same time they express their gratitude over and over that at least they can make it (even if barely). The band members open up in the various interviews and it is quite the treat. If you are a fan of Luna, or indie-rock for that matter, this is not to be missed. The proper movie is quite easy to the eyes and ears, and thankfully not edited MTV-style where the angle changes every second.

As to the extras, there are 4 concert songs added in their entirety, and a number of movie deleted scenes that are non-essential (and reason they didn't make it in the movie). No matter, this is an outstanding addition to the legacy of Luna. We miss ya, Luna! Dean and Britta have since then of course go on and have made several albums that are worth checking out as well. Meanwhile, this DVD is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!"

Destined to be underappreciated, like the band itself

Straitjacket Fits | Durham, NC | 06/16/2008

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Do I like this film because I like Luna, or do I like it good because of some other, overarching measure of goodness. In the case of Tell Me Do You Miss Me, I believe it's both. I've been a Luna fan pretty much from the beginning, but had not listened to their music for a few years. After watching the film, I remembered the Quality (re: Robert Pirsig) that informed so much of their music and have been listening to it again as a result. Based on my limited understanding of film-making, I believe that it's well done--I say this based on my having taken note of aspects of the film-making that I hadn't noted before in other documentaries, and placed in the context of an all-time favorite band's final tour, the combination proved powerful.

To those who believe Luna followed some formula for indie bands based on the presence of their blond, female bassist, I would remind you that Justin Harwood was Luna's bass player for its first 7 years. Part of the reason they disbanded was because of their unwillingness to follow the formulae associated with succeeding in conventional terms.

Additionally, I've always been confused by the limited comparisons of Luna to other bands, most notably the Velvet Underground. Such comparisons are not unwarranted, but they have always struck me as limited. A few songs (mainly from Bewitched) sound like some of the more iconic VU songs, but Dean Wareham's voice, phrasing, and lyric-writing really have little in common with Lou Reed's. In the film, a fan draws the comparison of "23 Minutes in Brussels" to VU. I disagree, and have always thought that 23MiB is more like Donovan's "Season of the Witch," which Luna covered. Sterling Morrison played on a couple of songs on Bewitched, but remember that Tom Verlaine also played on Penthouse. "Star Spangled Man" is nothing if not an ode to Television. Any good band is derivative to some degree, esp. considering the nature of rock music, but great bands like Luna make no pretense about their influences, and they certainly don't cop credit for the style. And when those influences are of Quality themselves, the band needn't be revolutionary in order to enter the pantheon of Great Bands.

Everyone is entitled to her/his opinion, of course. Since buying the film, I've watched it several times (once with my 5-year-old daughter, who loves Luna) and found more insight demonstrated by Matthew Buzzell each time. I guess that means that my own, limited opinion of the film is positive.

"

Luna- tastic

Lawrence E. Higgs | Jersey City, NJ | 10/31/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"This is a bitter sweet, but well executed movie about the band Luna's farewell tour and it's great. There's the music (of course), but also the very personal story of why bands call it quits and the toll it takes. This is not one of those self pitying "life on the road sucks, we do it for the fans, but pity us" stories.
There is the story of Luna, the context of NYC in the 90's (although one of the best interviews about how the city that Luna sang about is disappearing, which was pushed off to the deleted scenes extras) and the story of 4 people who fans ony know for 40 minutes on stage or on a CD and then disappear. It's not a biopic, but more of a period in time captured as it happens. The access given by the band and that fact that they are uninhibited by the camera, makes this movie worth the watch.
Bittersweet? Well there are the missing T-shirts in Spain, which was the bands only moneymaker after expenses, sleeping in bunkbeds in Denver, bickering in the van and more I won't give away. But the pay off is the lush soundtrack of Luna throughout the movie and how it touches people all over the world and overrides all the other crap the band has to deal with.
A must see and something you'll watch over again and tell your friends about."