Sam Jones’s film, which gets its title from the first track on the latest album by the alterna-country underground stars Wilco, started out as a documentary about a band on the verge of a major-label artistic if not commercial breakthrough. It ended up chronicling the breakdown of Wilco’s relationship with their label, Reprise/Warner Bros., as they attempted to forge ahead with Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, their most challenging and experimental album, which finally saw release on Nonesuch earlier this year.

Shot in black and white, I Am Trying To Break Your Heart is clearly on Wilco’s side as it follows the band through the difficult process of writing, recording, and mixing an album that would not only bring to an end their relationship with Reprise but would also lead to the departure of founding member Jay Bennett. Yet Jones in no way whitewashes these not-so-young men, going so far as to take his camera into the bathroom at the studio while Wilco frontman Jeff Tweedy looses his lunch. We also get to hear the different arguments regarding both Reprise’s treatment of the band and the band’s subsequent treatment of Bennett. All of which makes I Am Trying To Break Your Heart more than just a fan’s bio-pic of a band on the verge of a nervous breakdown — it’s a behind-the-scenes look at the machinations of the modern music industry. (92 minutes)