If Christoper Nolan recently borrowed a chapter of the Mayles playbook with his all-too-brief Quay Brothers documentary, quietly observing events unfolding without cinematic editorializing, perhaps one could argue Paul Thomas Anderson pulled out a looseleaf page from cinéma vérité giant Les Blank for his debut doc, “Junun.” While neither as rollicking or rambunctious as Blank’s films, there’s a spiritual connection to “Junun,” a free-form, vibrant documentary about an album recorded by a supergroup of musicians in Northern India that doesn’t feel the need for formal narrative. Maybe it’s as simple as the innate sense that, just like Blank does in his work, Anderson is sitting on the fringes, soaking up the infectious energy and loving every second of what he’s now become part of.
Documenting an album recorded by Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, Radiohead multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood, and the 15-plus motley crew of Indian folk musicians known...
