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Meeting People Is Easy

Meeting People Is Easy is a 1998 British documentary film by Grant Gee that follows the English rock band Radiohead on the world tour for their 1997 album OK Computer. It received positive reviews and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Film at the 42nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2000. It sold more than half a million copies on VHS and DVD.

Meeting People Is Easy
VHS cover
Directed byGrant Gee
Produced byDilly Gent
CinematographyGrant Gee
Edited byJerry Chater
Music byRadiohead
Production
companies
Distributed byEMI
Release date
  • 30 November 1998 (1998-11-30)
Running time
95 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

Summary

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Meeting People Is Easy documents the promotion and tour for Radiohead's third album, OK Computer, which began on 22 May 1997 in Barcelona, Spain.[1] It comprises footage of Radiohead working on music, filming music videos and promotional material, giving interviews and performing. It includes footage of the filming of the "No Surprises" music video and the failed studio session for the song "Man of War", and a performance of "Karma Police" on the Late Show with David Letterman.[2]

The documentary captures the band members' stress during the tour,[3] which the bassist, Colin Greenwood, later said was the lowest point of Radiohead's career.[4] The journalist Alex Ross described the film as "a kind of counterstrike against the music press, recording scores of pointless interviews with dead-tired members of the band".[5]

Radiohead's co-manager, Chris Hufford, said the film was "psychologically honest" and that he found it depressing to watch: "Seeing that going on where there should have been pride and joy. I knew they were readdressing how they looked to themselves, each other and the outside world."[6] The drummer, Philip Selway, said the film was the result of how Gee perceived the period, and that other times on the tour were "much lighter".[6]

In 2020, the singer, Thom Yorke, wrote: "I've never really watched this since it was completed. I couldn't because it would send me back down a mental hole that would take me days to recover from. But now skimming through it looks kind of funny, sad and alarming at the same time. I still recognise us all. But would have had some strong words for myself at this point."[7]

Production

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According to the director, Grant Gee, Radiohead sat in hotel suites for days giving interviews. To record each interview, Gee "[ran] around, leaving a microphone in one room, going and filming something in another".[3] He placed surveillance cameras in the band's dressing room, which Gee said foreshadowed the rise of reality television such as Big Brother: "We were doing it in a slightly more arty way, but it's the same ... Radiohead Big Brother is what I think of that film in a way."[3]

Release

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Meeting People Is Easy was released in the UK on VHS on 30 November 1998, and on DVD on 12 June 2000. It was released in both formats on 18 May 1999 in the United States. It was the first DVD released by Radiohead's record label, EMI.[citation needed]

Several television channels broadcast Meeting People Is Easy after its release. In the UK, Channel 4 broadcast the film on 6 May 1999.[8] In the US, MTV broadcast a premiere of the film on 16 May 1999,[citation needed] and the Sundance Channel broadcast the documentary nine times during May 2000.[9] After Radiohead's new record company, XL, purchased their back catalogue from EMI, Radiohead made Meeting People Is Easy available to stream free on their website along with other archived material.[10][11]

Reception

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Reviews for Meeting People Is Easy were positive. It received an average rating of 6.5/10 on Rotten Tomatoes, giving it a 71% "fresh" rating.[12] The reviewer Jessica Brandt of theshrubbery.com gave five out of five.[13] The film critic Daniel Fletcher named Meeting People Is Easy one of his ten favourite films.[14] Troy Patterson, a critic for Entertainment Weekly, gave it B+, calling it "an expressive mood piece creepy with cosmopolitan paranoia and bracingly somber bombast".[15]

Bart Blasengame gave the film four out of five, writing: "Instead of taking the usual tour documentary approach and dwelling on individual concerts or behind-the-scenes banter between the band, Gee's film focuses on the absurdity of being an important rock band in the current musical landscape—the shallow marketing of the band, the endless stream of redundant interviews, the blinding photo shoots and awkward television appearances."[1] Kevin Archibald of IGN gave it eight out of ten.[citation needed] In 2020, Pitchfork wrote that it "remains a cautionary tale" and wrote that the footage of the "Man of War" recording sessions was a highlight.[11]

Meeting People Is Easy sold more than half a million copies on DVD and VHS.[16] It was nominated for the "Best Music Film" category at the 2000 Grammy Awards.[16][17]

References

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  1. ^ a b Blasengame, Bart. "It Ain't Easy Being..." music-critic.com. Archived from the original on 10 February 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  2. ^ Hogan, Marc (4 March 2016). "19 Unreleased Radiohead Songs That Could Be on Their Next Album". Pitchfork. Archived from the original on 2 April 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2021.
  3. ^ a b c Kim, Brandon. "Is "Meeting People" Still Easy?". Independent Film Channel. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  4. ^ Klosterman, Chuck (July 2003). "No more knives". Spin.
  5. ^ Ross, Alex (21 August 2001). "The Searchers: Radiohead's unquiet revolution". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 25 May 2007. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
  6. ^ a b Pettigrew, Jason (September 2001). "How to reinvent completely". Alternative Press (158).
  7. ^ Lake, Alex (24 January 2020). "Here are Radiohead's personal discoveries from their public library". Flood Magazine. Retrieved 2 June 2023.
  8. ^ "RADIOHEAD MEETING PEOPLE IS EASY (1999)". BFI Film & TV Database. BFI. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
  9. ^ "Meeting People Is Easy on Sundance Channel". ateaseweb.com. 1 May 2000. Archived from the original on 21 November 2008. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  10. ^ Kaufman, Gil (20 January 2020). "Radiohead Open 'Public Library' With Rarities, Videos, Hard-to-Find Merch & More". Billboard. Archived from the original on 20 January 2020. Retrieved 15 April 2024.
  11. ^ a b "7 things from the new Radiohead online archive that excite us". Pitchfork. 22 January 2020. Retrieved 23 July 2022.
  12. ^ "Radiohead: Meeting People Is Easy (1998)". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 12 February 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  13. ^ Brandt, Jessica (June 1999). "Movie Review – Meeting People is Easy (A Radiohead Documentary)". theshrubbery.com. Archived from the original on 8 October 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  14. ^ "THE TOP 10 PROJECT INDIVIDUAL LISTS". thecinematheque.com. Archived from the original on 18 April 2009. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  15. ^ Patterson, Troy (21 May 1999). "Video Review – Meeting People is Easy (1999)". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 23 June 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  16. ^ a b "Grant Gee – Director Profile". sheffdocfest.com. Archived from the original on 21 October 2007. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  17. ^ "Awards for Meeting People Is Easy". IMDb. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
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