Because the first person you think of when you think of Pearl Jam lead singer Eddie Vedder is David Lynch, the new trailer for Pearl Jam Twenty starts with the famed director (and part-time musician) asking EV when "music started being a thing" for him. Cue up a dissolve into 20-year-old Pearl Jam home movies, folks, because Eddie is having himself a pretty rocking flashback!
Well, not exactly a flashback. Rather, an edited highlight package of the band both now and then and everywhere in between. Directed by rock music aficionado Cameron Crowe, PJ20 is a fangasm for those Pearl Jam lovers who own every concert CD from the 2000 world tour (guilty). For non-PJ devotees, the film should be -- at the very least -- a portrait of one of the last of the great American rock bands, and what its members did to prevent the inevitable fall from grace. On the face of things, PJ20 doesn't look like a whole lot more than an awesome episode of Behind the Music. With Crowe at the editing bay, however, here's hoping there's something more to be learned about the band and its far-reaching influence.
That's for non-fans. For fans, watch this trailer another fifty times, and then pre-order your tickets, soundtrack album, and PJ20 book accordingly.
VERDICT: A wave came crashing like a fist to the jaw.
Pearl Jam Twenty from Pearl Jam on Vimeo.
Pearl Jam Twenty debuts at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, and opens in select theaters on Sept. 20. It will air on PBS as part of the American Masters series on Oct. 21, the day before the band's twentieth anniversary. Head over to the PJ20 website for more information.