Devo
Chris Smith / United States / 2024 / European Premiere / 95 min
Meet the cult band of them all in the rockumentary of the year about a band that fused a political vision with being bizarre, nerdy and rock star cool. From the director of ‘American Movie’ and the hit series about the Fyre Festival.
The time has never been more ripe for a film about Devo – the innovative new-wave ensemble that based both their existence and name on a scathing social critique: ‘The de-volution of man’! The band emerged from the smoke of the National Guard rifles that massacred Vietnam War protesters at Kent University in Ohio in 1970. Inspired by a Dadaist fusion of high and low culture, Devo aimed to infiltrate American pop culture, succeeding with the monster hit ‘Whip It’. In telling the story of Devo, none other than Chris Smith (the man behind the 90s cult hit ‘American Movie’ and the TV series about the collapsed Fyre Festival) has created the most incisive rockumentary of the year. ‘Devo’ captures the band’s essence with a whirlwind of lo-fi archive footage, lightning-fast montage sequences and a pulsating rhythm. It’s all-killer-no-filler entertainment, but with plenty of food for thought.