Metallica: Some Kind of Monster

Starring: James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo, Jason Newsted

Directed by: Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky

RS: 3of 4 Stars

2004 IFC Films Music

You think your parents' marriage is complicated? Maybe so, but at least they don't have to worry about hiring a new bassist. This absorbing, weirdly voyeuristic documentary follows the endlessly protracted, issue-laden recording of Metallica's most recent album, St. Anger. When the band got together to make the record, relations between members Lars Ulrich, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett were so strained that they needed a therapist -- always on-call at the bargain price of $40,000 a month -- in the studio to help them communicate. For some reason, the bandmates let the filmmakers in on these sessions -- not to mention into their homes, their kids' ballet recitals and their meetings with management. And finally, at the end of the movie, we get to see the band actually be a band, when Hetfield and Ulrich turn on the self-help-cliche-spouting, ridiculous-sweater-wearing shrink who has started to think that he's a member of the group. That's when you realize that what Metallica needed all along wasn't someone to listen to their problems but an asshole to rebel against.