Air Guitar Nation

From New York and Los Angeles all the way to the world championships in Finland, Air Guitar Nation exposes the underground craze in which pseudo players compete to most-stylishly rock out on a nonexistent instrument. This surprising crowd-pleaser could very well have been a one-note lampoon of lunkheaded rocker dudes. But while it's absurdly funny, Air Guitar Nation is also a surprisingly poetic film about self-expression and liberation. With a resolute lack of snark, it celebrates these outlandish adopted personas, archetypes from every bombastic, tongue-wagging, strut-crazy rock era. They include C-Diddy, whose outsize stage presence includes a flowing red cape, a bare chest and endlessly malleable expressions. But rival Dan Crane, aka Bjorn Turoque, an '80s style rocker with ambitions to be the "ambassador of air," wants to knock him off his throne. (PS)