An appropriately eccentric doc for a thoroughly unique band, if “band” is the right word for what brothers Ron and Russell Mael have been up to since the early seventies. Filmmaker Pini Schatz relies on fans both famous and otherwise, plus a few old and still dazzled collaborators, to explain the deep appeal of Sparks’ wild 45 year project (tantalizing musical snippets, archival pics, and video clips provide the rest).

Best known for 1974’s operatic UK megahit “This Town Ain’t Big Enough for the Both of Us”, Sparks has been an endlessly inventive force in avant-pop ever since. Producer Tony Visconti doesn’t hesitate to describe songwriter Ron as a genius. Blink and you’ll miss a shot of Paul McCartney dressed as the keyboard-playing half of the duo, recognizable largely because of his comic glower and Hitler mustache.

Hilariously iffy subtitles aside, or maybe because of them, this film is a pleasure; a true box of delights from its opening scene featuring a man who laminates Sparks merchandise and reverently records the sound, to the obsessed painter Jamilla Naji, whose cheerfully insane portraits of Ron need to be hanging in my living room, right now.