Rather than the usual commemorative victory lap that these toadying music doc profiles tend towards, Omar and Cedric: If This Ever Gets Weird opts to focus on two artists who are not only ruthlessly honest about the strange topography of their career, but they’re both critical and, sometimes, sincerely apologetic too. Omar Rodríguez-López and Cedric Bixler-Zavala are the lanky, bubble-permed twosome who formed the backbone of the post-hardcore band At the Drive-In who, at the height of their popularity, dissolved and became percussive prog band The Mars Volta.
Nicolas Jack Davies’s compelling and surprising documentary splices together home footage captured by Rodríguez-López and lots of behind-the-scenes titbits while the two pass the baton back and forth when it comes to narrating the tumultuous story of their lives. This includes emotional reflections on beloved bandmates dropping like flies; dealing with the regressive political attitudes of certain sections of rock fandom; fame and its attendant traumas; a jack-knifing journey into and then out of the world of Scientology; and just the ebb and flow of a friendship whose bonds have not always been able to carry the strain of tragic events. Even to a viewer who’s not particularly taken by their idiosyncratic and knowingly difficult sound, it’s a pleasure to be in the company of two people who are so proficient at articulating their inner feelings.
