Gimme Shelter-The not-nearly-definitive guide to music documentaries
Keep the camera away from the guitar. They tend to create legends a little too often. And sabotage the microphone, it lends company to hearsay.
YEAR OF THE HORSE – NEIL YOUNG AND CRAZY HORSE(1997)
Jim Jarmusch
Relatively lesser-known and inaccessible Jarmusch, it still rates high on obscurity. And a little influence never hurts. Ebert’s take on it is a classic I love to hate him. And that alone makes it worth a mention. And then there is Neil Young…
THE LAST WALTZ-The Band, Eric Clapton, Neil Diamond, Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Robbie Robertson, The Staples, Muddy Waters, Ronnie Wood, Neil Young(1978/2002)
Martin Scorsese
Touted as the greatest rockumentary ever, this is Scorsese at his tasteful and indulgent best, with road elements(gloom, weariness, carry the burden), this film is famous for its epochal and ‘Helpless’ Neil Diamond stare. Available in remastered version now.
SHINE A LIGHT-ROLLING STONES (2008)
Martin Scorsese
The master demystifies the legend, and remystifies it again by closure. Robert Richardson(Bringing out the dead) works his magic along with a historical crew, time and place and creates glorious moments which stand up against the music. One for ages. Mick Jagger will make you think of stars falling down at once. Christina Aguillera has her fifteen. Keith Richards croons into the smoke as you witness rock music in its purest disturbingly real form.
“Between ‘63 and ‘70, those seven years, the music that they made I found myself gravitating to. I would listen to it a great deal. And ultimately, that fueled movies like ‘Mean Streets’ and later pictures of mine, ‘Raging Bull’ to a certain extent and certainly ‘GoodFellas’ and ‘Casino’ and other pictures over the years.The actual visualization of sequences and scenes in ‘Mean Streets’ comes from a lot of their music, of living with their music and listening to it. Not just the songs I use in the film. No, it’s about the tone and the mood of their music, their attitude. I just kept listening to it. Then I kept imagining scenes in movies. And interpreting. It’s not just imagining a scene of a tracking shot around a person’s face or a car scene. It really was [taking] events and incidents in my own life that I was trying to interpret into filmmaking, to a story, a narrative. And it seemed that those songs inspired me to do that, to find a way to put those stories on film. So the debt is incalculable. I don’t know what to say. In my mind, I did this film 40 years ago. It just happened to get around to being filmed right now.”
From August 2007 interview with Craig McLean of the London Observer.
DON’T LOOK BACK-BOB DYLAN (1968)
D. A. Pennebaker
I remember getting disturbed by the film’s irreverence when I saw it long back, but as I got into more of Dylan’s world, it started getting clearer. There was no other way. And the film grows important by the day. Much later, I would feel the same unpleasant anger watching a John Lennon film…
NO DIRECTION HOME-BOB DYLAN (2005)
Martin Scorsese
Only Scorsese could relive the legend of Dylan, and he goes all out, down the years, counting them as they come, carrying their weight along. And here you have Dylan doing most of the talking…
Remove the images on the first part, and you have the nicest old’ times compilation in a long time. A beginner’s guide to Dylan, before one approaches Pennebaker or Haynes.
ANITA O’DAY: THE LIFE OF A JAZZ SINGER (2008)
Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden
The film is a thorough investigation of the life and times of the great jazz vocalist, Anita O’Day. Filmmakers Robbie Cavolina and Ian McCrudden dedicated many years to capturing the engaging story of O’Day’s rise to fame: following her career from her youthful days singing alongside greats like Hoagy Carmichael, Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Louis Armstrong and Roy Eldridge to darker times in her life; drug addiction, multiple marriages, abortions, arrests and finally, the triumphant completion of her last album in 2006, shortly before her death at 87.
-Summary from metacritic.
GIMME SHELTER-ROLLING STONES (2000)
Albert Maysles, David Maysles & Charlotte Zwerin
This re-release of the 1970 classic documentary chronicles the Rolling Stones’ American tour, culminating in the violence and death at the Altamont concert.
-Summary from metacritic.
THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT-THE WHO (1979)
Jeff Stein
An acclaimed THE WHO film. Pete Townshend and Keith Moon and their cannon of crazymad songs are reason enough.
CROSSING THE BRIDGE-THE SOUND OF ISTANBUL(2005)
Fatih Akin
Anyone who has seen HEAD ON will swear by Akin’s keen sense of music. And add Istanbul to that, and you get a classic work of art of our times.
BUENA VISTA SOCIAL CLUB-RY COODER(1999)
Wim Wenders
Wenders’ pathbreaking journey into Havana(Cuba)’s heartland which brought a revolution of a different kind and gave the world some of the rarest melodies.
IT MIGHT GET LOUD-JACK WHITE, THE EDGE & JIMMY PAGE(2008)
Davis Guggenheim
This one is high on sheer trivia, and the coming together of 3 different musicians, and that line by Page on music and love that surpasses everything.
SOME KIND OF MONSTER-METALLICA
Joe Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky
Who would imagine Metallica at this fag end of their now-long-gone career would give us a film like this! Have it neat.
SOUL POWER- Miriam Makeba, Bill Withers, BB King, Celia Cruz & James Brown
Jeffrey Levy-Hinte
An account of the legendary soul music concert staged in Kinshasa, Zaire in 1974, this is one of its kind, a rare document of Soul & Funk. Historical, crucial, sweet lovin’. As my man says, Bill Withers is about as Soul as Brown.
SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL-The Rolling Stones, The Black Panthers, Marianne Faithful(1968)
Jean-Luc Godard
It might not get you the chicks, but it will sure get you some redemption.
For the love of the revolution, for the unruly, the empty hollows that go in long hours of intro, in long days of narration and retribution, this is to be approached with caution. The disclaimer reads a certain somebody named Jean-Luc Godard who loves to blow the literary controls off your adolescent years, it is much more than the Stones introducing themselves.
IN BED WITH MADONNA
Alek Keshishian
Despite all the wrong signals, this film actually brings the point home. You like Madonna or not, you hate the Eighties or not, you think Pop is overrated, you don’t particularly speak of her and Warren Beatty in the same breath. You think all of it is such a waste. Yet there is something about this film…
WOODSTOCK
Yes, why would I mention this now? When nothing more could be said that hasn’t been said before?
This is as close as it got to 1969. Remains as accessible as ever.
Some other MUSIC FICTIONS/ROCK OPERAS/ROCK EPICS/MUSIC BIOPICS worth a mention
WALK THE LINE
WALK HARD-THE DEWEY COX STORY
RAY
HONEYDRIPPER
WARMING BY THE DEVIL’S FIRE
MYSTERY TRAIN
ALMOST FAMOUS
TOMMY
I’M NOT THERE
SWEET & LOWDOWN
THE BLUES BROTHERS
Acknowledgements:
Roger Ebert
metacritic.com
Siddharth Pillai, and his unflinching love for a film we wouldn’t stop seeing till we die.
and that look on Bill Murray’s face in Groundhog Day
This post is a nod to the coming together of two film collectives that I have been associated with over the years, Passionforcinema.com & BFS, and is a celebration of Jaideep Verma’s Leaving Home coming to Bangalore this Saturday(Strange Circus).
Anurag Kashyap
Abhay Deol
Dibakar Banerjee
Hansal Mehta
Khalid Mohamed
Kundan Shah
Anish Kuruvilla
Jaideep Verma
Manish Gupta
Navdeep Singh
Bhavani Iyer
D. Santosh
Onir
Ashvin Kumar
Ramu Ramanathan
Sudhir Mishra
Pankaj Advani
Revathy
Saurabh Shukla
Shilpa Shukla
Sujoy Ghosh
Suparn Verma
Santosh Sivan
Shashank Ghosh
Shivajee
Pavan Kaul
Partho Sen-Gupta
Prroshant Naryannan
Sam Langoria
Satish Kasetty
Way to go! Well.. also we have to catch some Jonathan Demme affairs- Stop Making Noise and he’s done Neil Young too- Heart of Gold. And then there’s Monterey Pop by Pennebecker (Don’t Look Back). Check out the trailer. It blows fantastic. Another suuposed to the defnintive Rolling Stones document titled Cocksucker Blues might see the light this year sometime. You can understand why that didn’;t come out next. And yeah.. more focus of Woodstock.. one of the greatest achievements in film EVER. Also here.. a hard day’s night, HELP! and yellow submarine. And don’t forget the MONKEES’ head. Seems jack nicholson wrote the script. thats what i call a cocksucker blues. And then, Burrnett’s Warming By the devil’s fire. Unfortunate we couldn’t screen it. and then there;’s a Louis Armstrong thing called Meet Me in St. Louis. and before i end i wanna scream like till it hits Chicago via New Orleans- THE BLUES BROTHERS!
Awesome collection of docus which I have watched and some which I definitely need to watch.Woodstock (1970)remains my all time favourite.Thanks
Nice inclusions. I ll check Burnett as long as it runs.
With Burnett.. there is something similar to Sayles’ Honeydipper and i’m not talking about the milieu- time or space. It’s the way these films unfold or rather move. They maybe Americans but they’re not Hollywood. And i’m not talkin Indie- cause now indie has become this droll sub-Hollywood affair. Both ‘warming by the devil’s fire’ and ‘Honeydripper’ are theatrical and there is something rehearsed about them but you can’t fake integrity. And integrity is a warm gun.
It sure is. Warming intrigues me, more so cause I been hearing all the anthological music and wondering what would it be. fiction. scorsese. burnett. the blues?
looking to discover it soon.
Yeah it’s blues. It’s sweaty sexy New Orleans. It’s something you’ve not seen before. Even if you’ve seen ‘HoneyDipper’. Also i seem to just recollect a Ramones documentary and a Joe Strummer docu and one called Scott Walker: 30th century man that recieved rave reviews. And recently there was ANVIL! and hey hey hey.. we forgot: ‘this is spinal tap’
Saturday NIGHT FEVER. Let’s not forget the disco. and it’s a gritty as hell film. Once you watch it.. Beegees is the last thing on your mind. Recently, there was this depressing blackly comic Chilean film called ‘Tony Manero’ (Travolta Character). It sound strange and gritty enough to kick ass
ya, what are all these things. Ebert was mentioning the spinal tap thing when he was taking Jim’s indifferent ass.
yes, Tony Manero has some nice write-ups, on Guardian et al. I treat disco and 80’s in high regard, just goin low on the Moonwalker shit for reasons best known to you.
Iam the happiest man in the world today!thanks tushar.
well i’ve seen spinal tap. It’s like a spoof on music, rockumentaries and wait for this- martin Scorsese. But it cuts so fine- you sometimes wouldn’t realise it. Like ‘walk hard’ and then go micro. Been a long time since we screened. and it bears some serious revisiting. Joe Strummer starred in Jarmusch and Cox films. That how i got to know the man. he was a cool cat. and scott walker docu i read on reverse shot and village voice about. It made me real curious.
# oh fuck numerous tags strike again…
my previous comment has nothing to do with this write-up…it was for Sankat city-what it could have been,what it is…but i accidentally wrote it here.
@avijit.. don’t appologize for accidentaly stepping into the cool.. just say you’re not cool
What about the Iron Maiden documentary,Flight 666?
I also remembered Frank Zappa’s abiding interest in cinema. He made a few trashies on video. One of them being ‘200 Motels’ whose poster graces the wall of Peco’s. But he first compsed music for Timothy Carey’s ‘the world’s greatest sinner’ and while i haven’t seen the movie yet.. availability issues.. the youtube links give you an idea of how singularly batshit insane the movie can be:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBYBU0JLSB4&feature=player_embedded
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glWCXY-fo8M&feature=player_embedded
Tinmothy Carey threw stuff at Marlon Brando! I love him for that as much as i love brando. he also made a play on ‘Farting’.
Sid, checking all Timothy Carey stuff now. The ‘Brando gets Carey’ scene is classic Shammi Kapoor beats the manners out of Prem Chopra. Then there is this opening scene from The Fugitive Kind. I saw the batshit ones yesterday. Before & After…he he…
streaming Pull my daisy right now.
\m/ ….. seems u missed “the doors” ! ….. thanks though.
Woodstock, woodstock, woodstock!! That was not a festival, not a film – that was a lifestyle that our generation soooo missed out on!
@Tejas- the world’s never going back there but thank God Waldeigh’s film is enough to delude you, you’re there. It may not be real but then what is.
Our generation can be cool if it wants to. Thanks for staying around, Sid.
btw, what about Rob Zombie, he is also cinema cool crazy psycho.
on walk hard, it deserves a study, music spoof has never been cooler, at least from what I have seen. the jack black and paul rudd beatles trip is a sample.
@Vikram, yes I heard good words about 666 but who would take a transition from the 60’s to this sad age so fast? give me few days.
@Tejas, Sid said it.
@Shatik, yes I been heavily induced into The Doors & The Beatles. But just didn’t figure in my scheme of things when I thought music docu’s. That ways it will take us ages to make the list, cus Gondry & Jonze will haunt us too, along with some fab music video makers like our very own neighbourhood favorite Landis.
But it is reassuring enough that you guys are adding on to the devil’s plan. Stay cool.
Rob Zombie and Marilyn Manson,for me not great musicians at all…too much caricature..something similar to Slipknot..their burlesque act and get up supersedes the sound the create.IMHO.Similarly I dont enjoy works of Chris Cooper and KISS.
Ya me neither but Zombie needs some attention for the Grindhouse days. I have rarely ventured into metal or anything close to it except for Ozzfest or Deftones. You mean Chris or Alice Cooper? May be I have got em mixed up.
Ohh yeahh…Shit..got movies and music mixed up..
Wow! I like your list
Have the “The Last Waltz” DVD sitting on my shelf for 5 years now and haven’t bought myself to give it a spin.
I was going to suggest adding the new Iron Maiden rockumentary – “Flight 666″ – to your list. But to me that is a HUGE letdown at a documentary… it offers little or no glimpse on the “people” behind the band. I realize the Irons are a very private bunch but I expected more than just a catolog of popular songs perfomed live around the world!
The Metallica documentary, imo, is the best out there. It shows everything that a recording/touring band goes thru – tensions, in-fighting, collaboration… it has everything! Shows the real people behind the image …and not some fanboys homage video!
For hard core Neil Young fans (and if you live in the US) check out the recent Neil Young Blu-Ray release – “Neil Young Archives: Volume 1″. Only wish I could afford it :(
Well, what is cool? How can we be that? Do we have similar reasons as they had in ’60s, or similar people who would inspire us to? But I digress.
That cover of The Who’s documentary looks awful lot like a Kiss album!!
Anyone ever saw the documentary on Jimi Hendrix? Let me know what you think of it!!
that’s not the cover of the “The Kids’ Are Alright”. Surely a KISS rip-off!!
… was that intended as a joke??
Thanks Savio, like I said, 666 will take me a few years. I am buying the Metallica one tomorrow, have been hearing quite some word on it. I have some Neil Young on me, I mean whatever I could afford illegally.
@Tejas, tu hamesha mere post pe aake danga kyun karta hai!Spread the message of love and peace man, remember Woodstock. And then you say what is cool…I suggest you read some Hunter S. Thomson, Allen Ginsberg, Brautigan and Kerouac with immediate effect. Just kidding.
Ya, it appears like a KISS cover now that I think of it. Jo mila laga diya man. Certainly not intended as a joke. Apologies if it offended your The Who quotient.
arre bhai saab..aap to gussa ho gaye!! nahi nahi…mera aisa koi iraada nahi tha! it’s just that i am a big time fan of almost everything 60s!!
Love and Peace for the world bro!! And what would I do if I can’t help but read the title as ‘Gimme Seltzer’!!
Jokes apart, when here you write about documentaries on rockstars and foreign artistes, I remember there used to be a program on good ole’ Doordarshan about Indian musicians called ‘Saadhna’. They used contemporary stars to introduce the musician of the day. As far as I remember that’s only one thing we have done for our musicians! We could have done something for Ravi Shankar who has been the founder of world music movement.
Just my 2 cents. No harm intended!!
It’s all good, Tejas. I know 60’s can do that to you.
“And what would I do if I can’t help but read the title as ‘Gimme Seltzer’!!”
he he
Alka-Seltzer man…and all this when I have a bad cold..here you go…
(Sid, thoda gaur karein/for your consideration)
Gene Wilder-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WuvkvXUZF84
Newport Cigarette –
Rheingold Beer –
Buster Keaton
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTT1TSdWjkQ&feature=related
As of Saadhna, I remember it. Ravi Shankar was always cool. I have his Concert for Bangladesh. Love it when he speaks to the flower power crowd.
Sid, Tejas, youtube these links, really cool stuff. That Gene Wilder sketch ad is vintage stuff.
Do check out Heima, a film about Sigur Ros’ unannounced and free concerts in Iceland. Not really a documentary, not really a concert film… but beautiful none the less.
Thanks Anand for the recoo. This looks like an essential. Iceland and Sigur Ros. What more could one want!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1094594/
I dig Zombie stuff. I don’t know about Halloween but House of 1000 Corpses and The Devil’s Rejects have something strange and trashy going about them. and i like the way he serenades his clan of psychos gloriously into the sunset. Set to golden brown sunlight and Lynyrd Skynyrd.
Clan of psychos and zombies set to golden brown sunset and Lynyrd Skynyrd! I want it right now.
@Tejas.. check out Keroauc’s Pull My Daisy on google videos. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8994248541021504750
That’ll give you what you’re looking for. Jazz.
You got my drift my man!! Thank you!!
dude last waltz is pretty boring …i think the special features are more interesting …how Scorsese went ahead with the making…
need to check it dude. as far as the reviews go, it is not an everyday musical high docu, it tends to get things to a low. but I ll give that much to Scorsese.
I watched an awesome music documentary recently featuring Sigur Ros, a post-rock band. If anyone is a fan of post-rock do check it out. It’s called Heima.
Hi tushar, read the same article that was up for grabs after the ‘Leaving Home’ premiere in Bangalore…were you there too? Leaving Home has left me hungry for more n more Indian documentaries…Brilliant.
Yes Kshitij, that was me. Leaving Home review coming soon. Thanks for the patronage. :-)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0412796/
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107376/
Thanks for the recco. I have Latcho Drom’s OST.
Saw Some kind of monster today. It is worth the hype.