The ascent from indie band to musical stardom for Arcade Fire has been well-documented over the years. From winning Grammy awards to performing on the biggest stages, Arcade Fire has been regarded as a one of this generation's most powerful acts.
Now, this band takes its talents to the cinemas. As announced on the music website Consequence of Sound, the band's first feature film and documentary named Reflektor Tapes was released on September 24, 2015.
According to a statement by the band, "The Reflektor Tapes will be a unique cinematic experience, meeting at the crossroads of documentary, music, art and personal history." Although this is a transition to the mainstream Hollywood scene, vocalist and main composer Win Butler has said that this film will show how they maintain their disposition in staying true to their craft.
According to an interview with The Guardian, Butler expressed his desire to avoid "all the things that have nothing to do with playing your instrument or playing together that take up a lot more energy than actually playing music and connecting with people"-sentiments to be even more exposed in their film.
The film was directed by critically-acclaimed and 2013 Sundance Grand Jury Prize for Short Films winner Kahlil Joseph. The director has been known for his collaborations with other popular musical acts such as Flying Lotus and hip-hop sensation Kendrick Lamar.
The film was not received well critically as per rottentomatoes.com and earned them a 14% rating. Film critic Ben Rayner said the film was "A muddled, directionless splatter of concert footage, studio ciné-verité, music-video abstraction and Haitian/Jamaican travelogue exotica that aspires to mythmaking but instead strangles itself on its own self-indulgence."
With this kind of reception, there are rumors surfacing that the band will not be releasing any new music any time soon. Sources say that Butler has grown tired of touring and would like to focus on filmmaking first.
