Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
An intimate portrait of Brooklyn-based electronic rock band LCD Soundsystem's then-final live show on April 2, 2011, capturing both the exuberant, three-hour farewell concert at New York City's Madison Square Garden and frontman James Murphy's introspective 48 hours surrounding it.
Shut Up and Play the Hits works beautifully as both a concert film and a character study. The cinematography is exceptional — the MSG footage is kinetic and emotionally charged, capturing the scale and intimacy of the farewell simultaneously, while the quieter interstitial footage of Murphy wandering through his last day has a melancholic, indie-film quality. The ending carries genuine weight; watching Murphy dissolve into the crowd after 'New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down' is devastating and earned. The Chuck Klosterman interview segments add intellectual texture but occasionally slow momentum. Acting is a non-category in the traditional sense — Murphy is compelling and real, not performative. Novelty is solid but not singular; the hybrid concert-doc form has precedents, and the film doesn't radically reinvent the genre even if it executes it with care and emotional intelligence.