Vinyl (2000) User Reviews

Strangely engaging film about record collectors

[Needfire · 8/10 · 6 January 2001]

This is an odd film made by a local Toronto filmmaker who interviewed record collectors in their homes and in their favourite haunt--the record store. For those who enjoyed High Fidelity and thought that Nick Hornsby's novel was a rip off of their life story, wait until you see this one! The director's thesis is that record collectors are obsessive compulsive and are using this pursuit to make up for something that is inherently missing from their lives.

This is a very entertaining film. I'm not a record collector but one of my friends was featured in the film. I went on a lark and left feeling like I had voyeuristically ventured into someone's dusty garage.

Pretty damned near brilliant

[PKazee · 8/10 · 7 May 2015]

Pretty damned near brilliant. Director Zweig interviews, nay - psycho-analyzes, and CROSS-EXAMINES - record collectors in an effort to understand the roots of his own obsessiveness, loneliness and feelings of self-loathing. Among the collectors he's interviews are Harvey Pekar, Guy Madden and Bruce La Bruce, though nobody is identified in the film. Make no mistake, some of the collectors put under his microscope are quite sick, more hoarders than collectors, allowing their obsessions to paint their lives into a frighteningly cluttered corner. Though - as a collector myself - it could be rather painful to watch at times, and though the directors soul-searching occasionally wanders a bit too far, this is really a MUST SEE for any collector!

A cool flick about a lot more than record collecting

[mistergondo · 8/10 · 7 January 2006]

Why do people always tell you what they wish a film had been or what they would have done or what there should have been more of or less of? "There should have been more audiophiles". "There should have been less of the filmmaker". "It would have been better if my uncle was in it". etc etc blah blah blah. Me and my friends love this movie and we rent it whenever we can find it. I think the reason some people don't get it is because they want it to be ONLY about record collecting and while it is about that, it's about a lot more too. I'm not a record collector myself, although some of my friends are and I wouldn't have wanted it to be some celebration of record collecting. If you want a movie about audiophiles, make it yourself. Skimming through the reviews on IMDb, it seems like the most vocal reviewers are usually the ones who have the most complaints. And sometimes those complaints are entertaining but it shouldn't give you the wrong impression of this very unique and very cool flick. Oh and by the way, one of my friends told me that reviewer "Ivan Haffenden" is actually in the movie and so his comments should be ignored more than most.

A true gem

[timelord-3 · 10/10 · 14 July 2002]

Vinyl does deliver on its promise of delving deeply into the psyche of record collectors and their hobby/habit/obsession. What I didn't expect (and regretted slightly) was the filmmakers constant maudlin monologues on his state of mind. While funny, and occasionally actually making sense, and even sometimes referring to record collecting they got very distracting. I just wished he would shut up after a while so we could get back to the real stars.

And what a motley collection of obsessives are gathered in this hour and a half. Ranging from the guy who wants to collect every song ever produced, to the gal who stands by in comatose shock as her baby jumps all over her vinyl collection, emitting satisfying crunching sounds as her posterior meets its target.

Offering real insights into what could be described as an affliction, Vinyl covers a lot in its time and while proffing up many belly laughs perhaps gets a bit too serious about its subject matter. Satisfying nonetheless.

THE documentation about record collectors

[IQ150 · 21 March 2002]

Excellent, excellent film about record collectors from the perspective of a film maker AND record collector. What's so unique about Alan Zweig's documentation, is that he includes his own person in it, sometimes filming a location and himself in a mirror, or speaking directly to the audience about his private and personal thoughts. The other record collectors portrayed in this 110 minutes movie are beyond belief; can you imagine someone seriously claiming to collect EVERY song ever made? Or being able to tell the tracklists of ALL of his ten-thousands of albums by heart? "Vinyl"will blow your mind beyond the subject of sheer record collecting. It's a study on human obsessions in general.

Interesting throughout

[chris-h-3 · 9/10 · 13 March 2021]

Watched this and did not get the film I was expecting. Its called Vinyl and it talks about being a film about record collecting but its just as much, if not more, about the film maker himself.

Having just watched another documentary that felt very fake, false and constructed what you get here feels completely honest and thats what makes it interesting and involving. I think many of us are collectors of one thing or another and will certainly relate to some of the people in the film.

Very well edited too, while you might want to see and hear more about the records in this film, that is not what the film is ultimately about.

What's UP with that soundtrack?

[jonathan-577 · 6/10 · 7 June 2007]

Finally caught the documentary about insaneo record collectors, which since I am an insaneo record collector myself is of interest. There's lots of hilarious stuff, like the guy who is trying to get every record ever made in 'the world' but never thought of, like, Asia; or how about cinema-theorist-for-hire Geoff Pevere admitting that he threw 2000 records in a dumpster because he couldn't stand the thought of anyone else owning them. There's also lots of confrontational stuff where Zwieg, quite reasonably, tries to get these people to face up to what idiots they are being. A couple of them get very far out. But whatever's going along up top, way back in the distance somewhere you can hear this droning 80s infomercial music which I guess is supposed to be the movie's soundtrack. In a movie at least tangentially about music, is this some kind of bizarre attempt at irony? Docked a notch for that lazy sh*t.

There's a decent film hiding somewhere in here

[a-ride-in-the-ocean · 4/10 · 12 June 2008]

Alan blows a lot of time on this film lamenting that he wishes he'd spent his life being a family man rather than being some guy on his own buying a lot of records. I don't want to judge too harshly, but it seems to me that a possible reason the guy has lucked out is he is both whiny and domineering judging from the way he conducts interviews, he doesn't seem to like other people in his life talking much or getting too much attention, again going by his interviewing style and how the film is edited.

The collectors interviewed all seem charming, relatively happy and very quirky to me and some had cool anecdotes. I would have enjoyed this film far more if that's what comprised the whole film, rather than the 'I'm in a hobby that's for freaks/ help me I think I have OCD/ what have I done with my life' ramblings. Also the scene where Alan tries to scam on a female collector by trying to seduce her with an elevator muzak version of Over the Rainbow is as others have pointed out, very creepy.

Daniel Richler and Don McKellar look like they have great collections, it would be great if they were in the film for more than 30 seconds each.

Honest to a fault

[jfgibson73 · 5/10 · 11 May 2010]

Some hobbies just seem to attract completists. Here is one man's story about the consequences of obsession. Alan Zweig is a long time record collector, to the point that he has sacrificed other goals to make room for his hobby. The most notable of these compromises is his admission that he feels that the fact that he doesn't have a wife or kids is related to his collecting.

I've collected different things all my life, so I felt like I could relate to some degree. The movie made me think about the nature of collecting things. Do we do it to fill a void in our lives? Alan makes some very good, very true points about how the mind of the collector works and where it can take you. He tells one story about getting rid of a particular record that he thought he was ready to part with, but has since regretted nearly every day. This is what you go through when you let your interests have too much influence in your life.

Some of the different things I've collected: Star Wars, G.I. Joe, and Transformers action figures (preschool years); comic books (middle school years); records (high school and college); and downloading Mp3's and Disney collector pins (adulthood). I would also put movies in this category, even though I don't collect them in the traditional sense of buying them and keeping a stack of dvds. Watching them and writing IMDb reviews is along the same lines as what I used to do when I would get a new record or comic, digest it, and then fit it into a system of organization.

Each time I have been a serious collector, I decided at some point to get rid of the majority of my collection and only keep what was really special. I was then able to move on to other things. Apparently, the hardcore collectors in this doc have never gone through that "flushing out" process. Also, I have never allowed my hobbies to become so all-consuming that they kept me from other goals, such as getting a degree or getting married. So I guess I have not experienced the depth of obsession that some of the collectors in this movie have lived through. But that doesn't mean I haven't been close. Thank goodness I don't have any regrets as deep as what Alan expresses. But I do wish I had used my time better and prepared more for the future. Seeing a little bit of myself in this sad story helps remind me I have to keep focused on what is really important.

Odd confessional about obsession, not records

[chrisw-3 · 4/10 · 18 June 2007]

Like Harvey Pekar, but wish he was more of a whiny, uninteresting looser? The real Harvey Pekar is in this film for comparison, so you can see for yourself.

The subjects being interviewed would have been far more interesting in the hands of an interviewer with some empathy, and who didn't have the same obsession. As it is, he lacks the necessary distance from the subject to provide a decent overview. There is definitely a documentary to be made about this subject, but for the most part this film could be used by someone else as a template for how not to make that documentary.

Several points taken away for a breathtakingly cringe-worthy "girlfriend interview" and end titles that sacrifice readability for "style".

vinyl documentary record amateurs at most

[todamax · 2/10 · 21 December 2004]

i wish the show had had real audiophiles instead of who they interviewed. i've been at it as long as any of the people shown. i'm a collector and love to play them but the folks interviewed showed no real sense of quality in the way they kept their records or cleaned them and the stereo gear shown is total junk..i invite the shows producers to interview myself so people could see a more sane quality way to enjoy vinyl in the way 99% of the world never knew existed on this medium. my own personal collection is at least 15,000 records 5000 45's and 2000 reel to reels and a sound system that displays their total quality.