The long-awaited sequel to This Is Spinal Tap, though I don’t think that was the original idea. Directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky (Paradise Lost), this 2004 documentary chronicles the two-year genesis of Metallica’s St. Anger album, during which drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarists James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett paid a therapist $40,000 a month to help them express their feelings and finesse the fact that they hate each other but are either too lazy, greedy, or frightened to break up. Snippets of the band’s brutally percussive music punctuate the endless encounter sessions, which expose the musicians’ boundless self-absorption (the 9/11 attacks come and go without so much as a mention) and cowed obedience to their psychological handler. 130 min.
