A Mighty Wind
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A Mighty Wind was a movie released in 2003. It is a mockumentary about a folk music reunion concert and the three groups that must come together to perform on national television for the first time in years. The film was directed (and co-written) by prolific "mockumentarian" Christopher Guest. Guest's familiar cast of actors return from such films as Spinal Tap, Waiting for Guffman, & Best in Show for this film—Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Michael McKean, Harry Shearer, Fred Willard, Bob Balaban, John Michael Higgins, Jane Lynch, Rachael Harris, and Parker Posey are just a few of the actors who are returning to do their second, third, or even fourth film with Guest. One of the songs from the movie, "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow" was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Song, and was performed at the 76th Academy Awards by Levy and O'Hara (in character). The song was written by McKean with his wife, actress Annette O'Toole.
Plot summary
After the death of an influential folk music producer (Irving Steinbloom), his children organize a reunion concert for the three most successful groups he ever worked with, in order to pay tribute to Irving's life. "The Folksmen", "The New Main Street Singers", and "Mitch & Mickey" all have their own issues with getting prepared for the concert: the New Main Street Singers are mostly new to the genre (being a reincarnation of the original Main Street Singers) and have a manager with a painfully bad sense of humor attempting to organize their antics; the Folksmen experience unexpected trouble when a song they want to play is "stolen" from them, and must slowly come to terms with a band member's unexpected lifestyle shift; and Mitch and Mickey haven't spoken since a traumatic break-up decades before—now Mitch is a barely coherent emotional wreck, Mickey has married a model train enthusiast, and neither of them has played music in years. For these three groups to perform successfully on national public television, live, from New York City's Town Hall, will require a miracle of immense proportions.
"The Folksmen" would appear to represent a parody of The Weavers or The Kingston Trio; the "New Main Street Singers" are patterned after The New Seekers, The New Christy Minstrels and The Rooftop Singers; and "Mitch and Mickey" may represent a number of folk music duets, including Ian and Sylvia, or perhaps Bob Dylan and Joan Baez.
See also: Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show, This is Spinal Tap