Though
Everything Will Change
is billed as a documentary about The Postal Service, that’s not an entirely accurate description. It’s a concert film, first and foremost, with brief interspersed interviews with each band member—Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard, Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello, and Rilo Kiley’s Jenny Lewis—after they reunited to tour in celebration of the 10th anniversary of their only album, Give Up (which, ironically, eventually went platinum after the band did just that).
Filmed over two days last July at Berkeley’s Greek Theater, director Justin Mitchell has a good eye for the music doc, and his movie covers all the spectacle that went into organizing the show, homing in on the excited crowd and the band’s chemistry. Both are palpable and authentic; Gibbard and Lewis dance together as though they’ve been doing this routine for years.
Yet aside from a scene that takes viewers to Tamborello’s studio, where he shows some of the gear he used on the record, there are scant details concerning the making of the seminal album beyond those easily found on the web. Gibbard and Tamborello’ s collaboration by mail, exchanging CD-Rs of album tracks in progress, is part of Give Up’s lore, but there’s no exploration of that story. At one point Lewis alludes to “secret stories” in the songs, and that only Gibbard knows what they are. The camera then cuts to Gibbard talking about how he wrote “Such Great Heights” about a girl he was trying to impress, and leaves it at that.
Also missing is any mention of what the three members have been doing the past 10 years. Death Cab and Rilo Kiley became stalwarts of indie rock, yet those accomplishments are only briefly referenced. For fans looking to unravel the mystery of, or better understand, The Postal Service, there are no answers here. Instead, by focusing on the here and now, the film is a lovely document of a few singular performances, just before the group again creeps back into the shadows.
music@seattleweekly.com
EVERYTHING WILL CHANGE AMC Pacific Place, 600 Pine St., 652-8908, amctheatres.com. $10. 8 p.m. Fri., Nov. 14. Soundtrack out Nov. 24 on Sub Pop, subpop.com. Ben Gibbard performs at the Neptune, 1303 N.E. 45th St., 877-STG-4TIX, stgpresents.org. $25. 9 p.m. Sat., Nov. 15.
