Nirvanna the Band… & 4 Other Films to Get to Know Comedy's Most Exciting New Director
Chances are, over the past couple of months you’ll have seen Matt Johnson’s “interesting” face (his mother’s words, not mine) on your social media feeds.
Along with comedian, musician and long-time collaborator Jay McCarrol, Johnson is taking the world by storm with his latest feature film, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie. This success did not happen overnight, though. Johnson has been plugging away on the comedy scene since 2007, when he and McCarrol created the hilarious webseries that made all of this possible.
Ironically, Nirvanna the Band the Show is all about two guys who dream of seeing their name in lights; now, Johnson is living that dream. If you still haven’t heard of this bizarre and brilliant filmmaker, here’s a deep dive into his work so far, plus a look ahead to the next project on his schedule.
It started as a webseries. Then it was a TV show. Now, Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie is the culmination of almost 20 years of hard graft for Matt Johnson. Obsessed with booking a gig at Toronto’s The Rivoli, Matt and Jay go to extreme lengths to promote their band by leaping off the CN Tower. That plan fails, but Matt’s next brainwave – building a time machine – actually works, somehow.
One big extended riff on Back to the Future, the movie leans into all the standard time travel tropes and yet it’s such a wonderful blend of smart and silly that it works magnificently. Fans of the original show will be very satisfied seeing these foolish friends ramping up their escapades and referencing past jokes, but the film doesn’t alienate those who are not familiar with Matt and Jay’s journey. I can’t get enough of Nirvanna… – I’ve already watched it three times – and if you love the irreverent comedy of It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia, you’ll definitely appreciate the bold and wacky vibe of this film.
Speaking of It’s Always Sunny, the terrifyingly talented Glenn Howerton (who plays Dennis Reynolds in the sitcom) stars in what is undeniably Johnson’s most mainstream and universally appealing movie to date, BlackBerry. As you may have guessed, this tells the story of the rise and fall of BlackBerry devices in the mid-2000s, just before the iPhone killed them off.
Johnson utilises his trademark guerrilla-style filmmaking and handheld camera to capture the tale of this tech startup, which some may find jarring, but if you’re into films like The Social Network, The Big Short, and The Wolf of Wall Street, you’re sure to appreciate the self-aware tone of this culturally significant story. It’s thrilling and funny, with a formidable performance from Howerton to boot. You’ll have to pay £3.49 to rent BlackBerry from services like Apple TV or Amazon Prime Video, but it’s totally worth it.
A decade ago, Johnson tackled another pivotal moment in history with his fascinating take on the Apollo 11 mission in Operation Avalanche. We’ve all heard the conspiracy theories that the moon landing was faked, and this film cuts right to the core of that idea by showing us how it might have been done. Johnson stars as the leader of a group of CIA agents who go undercover at NASA and push ahead with a plan to create the most elaborate lie the world has ever seen.
There’s none of the eccentric humour you’d find in Johnson’s other films here, and Operation Avalanche actually goes to some pretty dark places as the story takes a turn into intense espionage territory. It’s an intriguing watch, especially with the meticulous attention to detail in crafting every inch of the moon landing through movie magic. You can watch this one for free, with ads, on Plex.
Johnson goes hard with the mockumentary approach for his debut feature, The Dirties, featuring two high school students bonding over a love for filmmaking and their shared trauma of being bullied daily. However, when they plan a school shooting to deal with the bullies, one of the boys takes things far too literally, with devastatingly haunting consequences.
The Dirties starts as a darkly quirky coming-of-age comedy before descending into a genuinely horrifying experience that will probably leave you feeling a little bit hollow – in a good way. It’s a film that has some pretty pertinent things to say about themes of extremism, gun violence, and male friendships, and I have to say, I’ve not stopped thinking about it since I watched it. It’s available to rent on YouTube or Google Play for £3.49, but just make sure you’re in the right frame of mind before you hit play on this one.
Finally, Johnson has a very special project coming up in August: a biopic about the late, great chef Anthony Bourdain, titled Tony.
The director has assembled a great cast for the project, with Dominic Sessa – who you may know from the superb The Holdovers – in the lead role as Bourdain, while the likes of Leo Woodall, Emilia Jones, and Antonio Banderas are in support. It’s also an A24 production, which always bodes well, and interestingly, Tony will see Michael Bauman take on cinematography duties. Bauman has collaborated with Paul Thomas Anderson multiple times, including shooting Best Picture winner One Battle After Another.
Does this mean Johnson will ditch his beloved shaky cam technique? I hope not. Either way, this is shaping up to be a very exciting prospect indeed.
