Srebalus is a first-time filmmaker, and it partly shows in Such Hawks, Such Hounds with unpolished transitions and not enough extended music numbers. What’s a music documentary without lots of music?
Looking around the audience and you can see people bobbing their head to various bits of music, but for a hard rock novice who has only heard of bands like the Melvins and Comets on Fire by name (although I have listened to Black Sabbath’s “Iron Man”) it would have been refreshing and poignant to include long takes of specific songs that the documentary highlights, which it does to a degree in its second half.
The documentary is as much an ode to the bands and fans of American hard rock, but it could have been a little more had there been a bigger emphasis on the music. Interviews with bands and musicians can only go so far, and that’s where the music could and should speak for itself.
After the screening, Srebalus made himself available for audience questions. A couple of tidbits:
- Srebalus wanted to include participation from the Melvins in the documentary, but it became apparent that they didn’t want to be in it.
- Because the film was self-financed, European and Asian hard rock were omitted. But on a message board, someone from Europe cited his interest in tackling the subject to an enthusiastic Srebalus.
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