'Eno' is the year's most inventive documentary

Gary Hustwit's film about the prolific music producer is different every time it's shown. Plus: 'Piece by Piece'

I’ve never seen a documentary quite like Eno, director Gary Hustwit’s examination of the famed musician, producer, and performer Brian Eno, which has been called “the first generative feature film.”

Much like Eno has long used software to create ambient music, Hustwit has used a software program to remix his film itself: It’s never shown the same way twice, with the software switching out shots, scenes, and other aspects every time the movie is exhibited, although some things are weighted to appear more frequently. Think of it like a band’s tour—its setlist is different from night to night, but seeing the band is seeing the band.

So what’s been created is a revealing portrait of the now 76-year-old Brian Eno and a truly inventive way of making films.

I saw the film Tuesday night in a special showing at the Princeton Garden Theatre in New Jersey; this review is based on the version I saw, and I can’t speak for any other editions.

The filmmaker had extensive access to thousands of hours of Eno’s personal archives and conducted extensive interviews with him. He talks about his upbringing, work with Roxy Music, U2, and David Bowie, and solo music. In the edition I watched, we see some fanatic footage of Eno in the studio with U2, finding just the perfect tempo and mix of “Pride (in the Name of Love.”)

Eno, like most of us, looks every different from year to year, and some audiences might have fun trying to pinpoint the exact year when he gave up the ghost and shaved his head. There’s not much about Eno’s marriages, children, or personal life, although he likely broached all of that in interviews in the other film mixes.

This approach to filmmaking has made a standard theatrical release all but impossible, so Eno, after a Sundance debut in January and an extended run at Film Forum in New York, the film has been touring around the country in road show form. However, it skipped Philly for whatever reason, which is why I drove up to Princeton (yes, it was worth it.) No screeners have been offered to critics.

At my showing, there was a live-streamed Q&A with the director, in which he asked the crowd if the version of the movie they just watched had included the scene where Eno buys a video camera to wander New York City (no) or the one where he tells a certain story about Joni Mitchell (yes.)

There was talk about an eventual streaming release, although how that would work, and whether Netflix or Max has the technology to remix the film every time, is unclear.

Still, if you can find a way to see Eno, you should, whether you’re a longtime fan of Eno’s work or a complete neophyte.

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Speaking of new documentaries told in a nontraditional way, there’s Piece by Piece, which comes out this week, and is a documentary biopic of musician Pharrell Williams, in which Williams and all of the other characters are depicted as LEGOs.

Morgan Neville, the prolific documentarian, the director, and we see a LEGO version of Neville interviewing Williams. A long list of A-listers, including Snoop Dogg, Justin Timberlake, and Gwen Stefani, voice themselves.

It’s a creative idea, and it always looks really cool, but overall it can’t overcome the usual music documentary cliches. And as has been the case way too often lately, it’s the subject of the film producing a film about how cool and awesome that subject is.

And if you didn’t like Piece by Piece, there’s another movie coming out next year, called Atlantis, which is a semi-autobiographical musical about Williams growing up in Virginia.

At least he’s not depicted as a monkey…