Trances is a documentary/concert film hybrid that you either get on the vibe of or you don't so much. I did, and the concert footage is spectacular; Eastern music is so mesmerizing because of the repetition and the groove that these musicians get into in song after song can't help one but want to move around the room as it plays and goes around like a slinky animal going in beautiful circles.
There's a complexity in the simplicity of the musicianship if that makes sense, that it must take years of becoming a fully integrated unit and to be on the same wavelength as everyone else in the group in order to create harmony and a connection not just with themselves but the audience, so it doesn't matter so much that it's many of the same notes.... it has the same kind of momentum as certain kinds of punk rock in a way, or even like the Stooges or Velvet Underground with some of their deliberately long songs (Sister Ray, Funhouse).
It may be a little more scattershot as a documentary, mostly because the director is largely concentrated to just observe the musicians - to the point of conversations losing any focus - as they talk and sometimes argue and some political digressions in the middle (with a couple of key moments of history on the music that I wished were a little more jn depth or thorough for context, like imagine the Beatles talking about Little Richard and youd never heard his stuff before).
I felt a little too ignorant on the politics of the region except the Band sings about general oppression and it likely leans into some religious terrain, though I could be wrong. If I knew who the members were a little more I'd feel something, but that's not what the director is going for - he gets their natural thoughts and down to earth philosophy in spots and that's cool.
Trances is directed with a calm and confident eye, not a verite influence of like the Maysles or Pennebaker going in and that works for this tone where people sometimes drift into a moment like the one guy with the yellow head-scarf who comes in with his flute and he and one of the drummers gets into a groove right away ("Hamdouchi" I think it was called for the rhythm). My point in this review is to note that if you're a college student with friends in your dorm with a good bit of substances, this is perfect to accompany your trip.
