'AIR GUITAR NATION' STRIKES A CHORD.

Byline: Glenn Whipp

Film Critic

'Air Guitar Nation" features two characters that could have been modeled on the dueling magicians in last year's "The Prestige."

There's C. Diddy, like Hugh Jackman, the showman, a man who knows how to play to the audience and win their love. And there's Bjorn Turoque, like Christian Bale, the purist who puts a premium on technique above all else.

C. Diddy and Bjorn Turoque (that's B-yorn To-Rawk, for the uninitiated) do not kill each other at the end of the enjoyable documentary "Air Guitar Nation," though I can't say that Dan Crane, Bjorn's alter ego, never harbored the fantasy. Their rivalry is the main focus of the movie, but not the only one, as director Alexandra Lipsitz has fashioned a loopy, loving tribute to the sport and its practitioners.

The movie, like previous examinations of geeky subcultures like "Wordplay" and "Spellbound," follows its characters as they compete for a title. Here, it's for the chance to be the first U.S. representative to the World Air Guitar Championships, an event held in Finland since 1997 that somehow had never had a competitor from the land of Elvis, Chuck Berry and Meat Loaf.

There's a lot of talking-head silliness about air guitar being "a pure art form," about how "to err is human, to air guitar divine."

The Finns take the whole thing pretty seriously, noting that if you hold an air guitar, it's impossible to simultaneously hold a gun or rifle. (I'm sure some hombre in a Peckinpah movie would be able to pull it off.)

But Lipsitz -- and just about everybody involved that isn't Finnish -- knows the inherent goofiness of air guitar. Even Crane has to laugh when his "nana" can't understand exactly what it is he does until she finally she gets it. "Oooooh, like a mime," grandma says. Exactly.

Like a mime.

Surprisingly, though, these mimes can be pretty charismatic and entertaining during their 60-second stage spots. David Jung, the Korean-American "playing" C. Diddy, looks ridiculous with his Spandex and Hello Kitty breastplate, but when he releases his "Asian fury" on stage, he's nothing short of amazing. Even his rival finally admits a grudging admiration, which may indeed be proof that air guitar can heal the deepest divisions.

Glenn Whipp, [phone]

[e-mail]

AIR GUITAR NATION - Three stars

(R: language, brief nudity)

Starring: Dan Crane, David Jung.

Director: Mike Binder.

Running time: 1 hr. 22 min.

Playing: Landmark's Nuart Theatre in West Los Angeles.

In a nutshell: Air guitar escapes from the basement in this loopy, loving tribute to the "sport" and its practitioners.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

David "C. Diddy" Jung, left, and Ian "The Red Plectrum" Stafford get the crowd revved up in "Air Guitar Nation," a documentary about the competitive sport that is ... air guitar.