Mistaken for Strangers

”I feel like I'm on the outside looking in,” opines Tom Berninger, halfway through this brilliantly idiosyncratic documentary in which he is both the director and star. Hired as a roadie for brooding indie rockers The National, a band fronted by his older brother Matt, Tom spends much of the movie enviously orbiting his employers as they bask in the adulation of a devoted fan base and attend private audiences with Barack Obama. The viewer can't help but share Tom's sentiments while being shown life on the road from his perspective, but the film takes a disarming turn in its second act.

When his immature behaviour results in him being relieved of his services on tour, the kvetching knucklehead returns home to lick his wounds and sift through hours of recently acquired documentary footage. What emerges is a surprisingly weighty meditation on success and self-actualisation that renders Mistaken for Strangers altogether more thoughtful and touching than the average hilarious rockumentary. 

Read Josh Slater-Williams' Mistaken for Strangers review