"Meeting People is Easy," a first-rate documentary by music video director Grant Gee, played to sold-out houses in a limited theatrical run back in 1999 and was released on VHS and DVD a few months later. Chronicling British group Radiohead's 1997 Against-Demons tour, this rockumentary uses its synchronization of imagery and sound to lure the viewer into a sense of awe at both the dynamic music of the band and the alienated viewpoint of the musicians.

When Radiohead released their third album, OK Computer, in '97, they were met with an onslaught of critical and mass acclaim. They became, among other superlatives, the "saviors of rock `n roll" destined to retrieve the genre from the depths of mediocrity. However, "Meeting People" doesn't encourage this concept or merely document the band and their worldwide tour. Instead, it functions as a visual companion piece to the mechanized attitude of OK.

Brimming with a stirring series of edits that contrast quickly moving shots with stills, slow tracking shots, and utilizing color/black and white video, the film creates a chaotic impact that effectively echoes the band's sonic ambiance. The soundtrack is swarming with audio samples taken from interviews, songs and sounds of today's metropolitan cities. This design is apt not only in the context of Radiohead's aesthetic, but also in the veritable media whirlwind of shallow marketing, endless streams of redundant interviews, blinding photo shoots and awkward television appearances. The tour, the nucleus of this frenzy, seems to be a microcosm of the creepy, dehumanizing, world they critique on OK.

From concert to concert, Radiohead plays their carefully constructed songs over and over again. They have interviews and photo-shoots before and after performing. Various segments show a band tired and bored with a parade of insipid questions from uninspired journalists. Cobbled together as they are in the film, these inquiries are utterly ridiculous.

Guitarists Colin Greenwood and Ed O'Brien endure the interviews and participate in worthless radio spots as best as they can, but lead singer and songwriter Thom Yorke is at the breaking point. Instead of chilling out at a post-concert party with his bandmates, Yorke paces around his dressing room, fearing the attention in the next room. When he can't even complete a simple clip for an awards show, he throws the script to the ground and asks one of the other members to finish it for him. But during the filming of the "No Surprises" video, in which he must hold his breath under a helmet of slowly filling water, Yorke's frustrations are even more evident. Obviously, this is not a rock star enjoying the good life; he's uncomfortable and uneasy wherever he goes.

But all this is not to say that "Meeting People" reveals much about the band members themselves—it is more about the process than the personalities. The film creates a cramped, tedious world by limiting its settings to urban vistas: subway tunnels, escalators, airport terminals, etc. The band travels from one hectic city to another; one small, impersonal hotel room to the next. There is an allegory at work here, linking the rigors of the tour to the rigors of the inhumane, digitized world so strongly conveyed on O.K. Computer.

Musically, the film ranges from an audience sing-along of "Creep" to a blistering, hair-raising version of "Exit Music (for a Film)" to snippets of new material that showed up on Kid A, Amnesiac, and as B-sides. Unfortunately, there are precious few full-length live performances. Rather, the film takes a music video montage approach that brilliantly communicates the startling atmosphere of Radiohead's music.

"Meeting People is Easy" is therefore not a typical tour film. But Radiohead is not a typical band. Kid A and Amnesiac's experimental and non-radio-friendly temperament angered some, pleased others. Regardless of the direction they take now, they'll never be accorded the same reception as documented in "Meeting People."

Fans will no doubt enjoy it for what it offers musically, as well as take pleasure in its OK Computer-inspired sonic atmosphere. For film enthusiasts and the uninitiated, "Meeting People Is Easy" offers up an expert, conceptual fusion of sound, sight, and music—a successful formula for a great rockumentary. --Video Pick of the Week

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