Air Guitar Nation

Directed by Alexandra Lipsitz

Born of reality TV’s Magical Elves, Air Guitar Nation was initially conceived as the “American Idol” of the first-ever U.S. Air Guitar Championship. The plan was to follow American competitors as they battled each other to represent the United States in the World Air Guitar Championships in Oulu, Finland, where they’d take on The Red Plectrum, The Torbinator, Mr. Metalilizer (Austria) and other national champs for the international title of world’s best player of an imaginary instrument.

By the time reality TV backed off the project (because clearing music rights was prohibitively expensive), first-time director Alexandra Lipsitz was hooked on the subject and on characters with noms de strum like C-Diddy, Bjorn Turock and Krye Tuff.

Beginning in 2002, she and a dedicated crew shot some 400 hours of performance, behind-the-scenes antics, interviews and background bites to deliver this 81-minute doc about a surprisingly popular and profoundly quizzical worldwide phenomenon.

If you’re not an air guitar buff—and, honestly, how many of us are?—you’re probably wondering why anyone would pretend to play an imaginary guitar, jumping around wildly in front of a loudly jeering (or cheering) crowd. C-Diddy (an Exeter-educated Brooklyn-born actor whose real name is David Jung) says it lets someone without the requisite musical talent (himself) be a rock star. Dan “Bjorn Turoque” Crane, a Berkeley-born musician, composer, software developer and journalist, posits (with appealing self-derision) that “to err is human; to air guitar, divine,” while his 80-something Nana, imitating his moves, likens Danny’s performances to mime. Some competitors suggest air guitar is an Olympics-level sport, others call it meditation. One proclaims it’s the perfect performance art because it’s invisible, transforming nothingness into something ephemerally tangible. OK, if you say so.

Fact is, the film’s very entertaining, since Lipsitz is a good storyteller and—by using short takes and an MTV-worthy editing style—she crafts a thoroughly engaging narrative with captivating characters who are smart, funny and full of surprises. (Turns out Krye Tuff has a wildly glam day job as a government budget analyst. Who’da thunkit?). Lipsitz also puts C-Diddy center stage often enough for viewers to recognize a consistency in his act; the gyrations and facial expressions are actually choreographed, and Diddy hits his marks every time. A tight act is essential to catch the judges’ attention since they have criteria that includes contestants’ moves, dexterity, musicality and a somewhat intangible quality called “airness.”

Much to her credit, Lipsitz presents the air guitar craze within the larger context of serious world events. She reveals that the Finnish students who founded the Air Guitar World Championships did so as an amusing goof, but also proclaimed that if everyone in the world were holding air guitars, they couldn’t carry guns.

Similar points are made when Diddy and Bjorn admit concerns about the serious business of representing the United States—not only the birth place of rock ’n’ roll, but also a principal gun-toter—in Finland, where they fear they may face anti-American sentiments because of current government policies. The film’s self-deprecating humor allows the slightly silly “make air, not war” message to have a more profound impact.

Still, Air Guitar Nation’s main thrust is fun, and it’s a blast and a half of that. After seeing the film, you might find yourself plucking at an imaginary instrument from time to time and even wondering about your own quality of “airness.”