TORONTO - A book, an album, and now a film.
Canada's sprawling indie band Broken Social Scene jump onto the big screen this weekend with "This Movie Is Broken," a rock 'n' roll ode to summer love in which reality and fiction collide under the helm of director Bruce McDonald.
The unconventional concert film melds footage culled from an outdoor reunion show the band held last summer with a scripted love story involving three friends who go to the show.
It's a technique meant to avoid what band captain Brendan Canning sees as the crippling problem with most other concert films: they're boring.
"Even something as classic as 'The Last Waltz,' I actually can remember seeing that down at the Harbourfront where we did our show," Canning says during a recent interview at a downtown hotel where part of "This Movie is Broken" was shot.
"Even though it's got Dr. John and Joni Mitchell and the Staple Singers, I'm bored halfway through because it's not a show. It's just a concert."
"I like the fact that at least... we did do a narrative within the film because it just sort of breaks it up and then it makes the concert moments seem a little more exciting, maybe."
By most accounts, the band's lakeside concert last year was anything but routine. It featured a rare reunion of the band's celebrity members -- among them Feist, Jason Collett, Emily Haines of Metric and Amy Millan of Stars -- and it took place in the midst of a fractious city garbage strike that galvanized residents as downtown parks and sidewalks overflowed with trash.
It was also free, and a last-minute surprise that was hastily organized when the strike prevented the band from holding a scheduled concert on the Toronto Islands.
The real-life chaos provided the perfect backdrop for a summer love story, says McDonald, best known for the rock'n'roll mockumentary, "Hard Core Logo."
"The ideal concert movie to me is about that, it's about getting down and romance," says McDonald, calling himself a "super-fan" of the band.
"Music brings people together and I thought, 'This movie's a perfect day in the city. It's the perfect day downtown.' You go with your friends, you get high, you go see the band, a little drama happens, a little kiss-and-make-up, you know."
The movie begins the morning after Bruno (Greg Calderone) has consummated a longtime crush on childhood friend Caroline (Georgina Reilly). She's about to return to school in France, and Bruno spends the rest of the day trying to cement their romantic relationship by getting her close to her favourite band, Broken Social Scene.
The action unfolds with little dialogue, as scenes from the evening concert are intercut with Bruno's awkward attempts at courtship with the help of his more savvy friend, Blake. Live music from the show provides a constant soundtrack.
Throughout, the couple wander on foot and by bike past downtown hipster landmarks including Little Italy, the Drake Hotel, Trinity Bellwoods Park, Exhibition Place and finally Harbourfront, which was teeming with eager music fans.
Reilly notes the guerrilla-style shoot often sent her, Calderone, screenwriter Don McKellar and a camera man battling through a crowd of concert-goers while trying to capture key plot points.
"It was like, 'I really need to get to this place and I have no mark and no one's getting it for me and there's just people trying to get on the camera," recalls Reilly, whose previous collaborations with McDonald include "Pontypool" and a TV pilot called "The Dark Room."
"And everybody wants to sit close to the stage but we were also trying to get a good shot for us."
Calderone notes it made for some pretty hairy moments when it came time to shoot a scene that required the actors to watch the show -- and talk -- from just a few rows from the front of the stage.
"There were people that had gotten there early and had gotten good seats and stuff and were probably like, 'What the hell? Why are these guys kicking us out of our seats?' " says Calderone.
"And Don's like, 'Stand up!' " Reilly adds. "And I'm like, 'I really don't want to stand up right now, Don.' And he's like, 'Stand up!"'
Capturing the show itself required several cameras just dedicated to the stage, McDonald adds. They included six high-end digital cameras, another four cameras in and around backstage and the pit, plus some Super 8 cameras and Bolex cameras.
Then there were the cellphones and smaller point-and-shoots that audience members brought at McDonald's behest.
The renegade director, whose other film exploits include the split-screen "Tracey Fragments" and his rock'n'roll debut, "Roadkill," invited fans to submit images they captured for possible inclusion in the film. He says he ended up discarding most of the entries when it became clear people were more interested in shooting anything but the concert.
"We got some very interesting footage," McDonald says chuckling. "People are exhibitionists, you know, they love to dance for the camera, especially when they're in their own private little world."
It easily could have all gone wrong, Canning admits of the musical experiment, but the end result is a lasting record of one of Toronto's best-known indie collectives.
"We were really fortunate that we just happened to have a really killer show and everyone who has practically ever played with us happened to be at that show," Canning says of the film, which comes on the heels of the coffee table book called, "This Book Is Broken," and the album, "Forgiveness Rock Record."
"All the stars were aligned in that regard."
"This Movie Is Broken" hits theatres Friday.
