The Junction

Cambridge Film Festival Certificate PG. 83 mins. UK Premiere.

Starring: Dennis Hopper Choppers, Duracell, Honkeyfinger, Man from Uranus and others.

One-man bands. Showmen, eccentrics, loners. But whatever you do, don’t call them buskers. Adam Clitheroe’s new feature documentary is a funny and moving portrait of contemporary musicians who play as one-person acts. For them, music just sounds so much better when you make it all alone. With an eclectic array of musical styles – ranging from there in rock to hurricane drum solos and a backing band made of bicycle wheels – they bring to the stage noise and spectacle worthy of a whole band, but at a fraction of the budget. Following their progress with sympathetic eyes – perhaps helped by the fact that it’s made by a one-man band filmmaker – we meet a selection of contemporary one-man bands from Europe and the USA and join them for their lonely existence on the road. Life for a one-man band is a journey into solitude, and so the documentary asks: what drives us as humans to create, and is it worth the pain?