by ·Comments Off on Two by Luke Fowler

Electro-Pythagorus (2017)

Apparently Fowler makes interview/essay docs about oddball musicians. This one’s about synth wizard / music professor Martin Barlett. Both Martin and the filmmaker seem to enjoy small homemade things and handwritten letters – much of the movie is letters and papers being read aloud.

–
The Way Out (2003)

And this one is about another music weirdo, Jim “Xentos” Welton. I couldn’t tell if the Coven-like dubbed staged scenes in unfocused small-gauge film were a put-on, turns out they’re Xentos originals. People are interviewed, and sometimes Fowler will play a CD while the camera looks at a crack in the wall.

by ·Comments Off on The Last Waltz (1978, Martin Scorsese)

Is it coincidence, or was it planned,
that you can sing the words to Silkworm’s “Slow Hands”
to the tune of “The Weight” by The Band

Went out in a thunderstorm and watched the movie by the band The Band. People who know the setlist take their bathroom break during Neil Diamond, but I’d argue if you can wait until Paul Butterfield is jamming on harmonica, he is even less essential. Dylan has finally gone the correct amount of electric (Very Electric) and sounds good. Joni Mitchell also comes off well as a rocker. The Staple Singers jumpscare “The Weight,” after the band plays the whole first verse and chorus without the cameras revealing anyone else is onstage then Mavis blasts into verse two. The cocaine isn’t even the worst part of Neil Young’s appearance – he looks like shit overall, but he has never sounded better. Only one Mekons cover (“Makes No Difference”). I’m annoyed to have finally found a Dylan movie that Joan Baez isn’t in, but Emmylou Harris makes up for it. I knew two thirds of the guests by face/voice, but the whole time Van Morrison was on I thought of him as The White James Brown. Good show – I can see why people come out declaring it The Greatest Rock & Roll Movie Ever Made, or at least why someone would want to put together a Levon Helm tribute night at the Hideout.

by ·Comments Off on One Plus One/Sympathy for the Devil (1968, Jean-Luc Godard)

After La Chinoise and Weekend, JLG was hired to film the Rolling Stones for some reason. If the Stones were happy for this and Gimme Shelter to be released, then Cocksucker Blues must be really bad. Are there any movies where this band actually comes off well? Guess that’s what Shine a Light will be. What we do get is beautiful color film of the recording of one of their most famous songs, first as a restrained folk-rock number, repeatedly practicing the delicate intro before the drums come in, finally turning the song into a hootfest with your granny on bongos. The Heinz Emigholz motorik doc wasn’t kidding around when it stole this movie’s title.

In between studio recording segments are episodes that look like movie scenes but don’t behave like them, long takes with dialogue moving in trance loops. Black power, Vietnam war, Sexual revolution – Anne Wiazemsky (same year as Teorema) is being interviewed in the woods, he asks obscure questions and she answers only yes/no. “When the novel is dead then the technological society will be totally upon us.” Then sometimes a narrator will read us comic stories or pornography.

by ·Comments Off on Magical Mystery Tour (1967, The Beatles)

This collection of TV music videos with a loose framing story seems more like first-take/b-roll mess. Is it for kids? Was it influenced by The Monkees? They probably explained briefly in Anthology how this turned out so badly, and I already forgot.

At least each song gets a different visual treatment and some are nice (like the color-filtered mountainscapes over an instrumental song) and not just over-literal imagery (showing policemen in a row for the line “policemen in a row”). And at least during the awful narrative parts (Ringo squabbling with his aunt on a bus) we get nice symphonic versions of early band hits.

Have they been watching Kenneth Anger? Paul does his best silly walk. Ridiculous striptease with the Bonzo Dog Band. I don’t know if people back then knew who Mal was, but after you’ve seen Get Back it’s impossible not to notice him in every scene here. The anonymous veteran co-director was poor old Bernie Knowles, DP of The 39 Steps, now working with DP Richard Starkey.

by ·Comments Off on No Direction Home (2005, Martin Scorsese)

Scorsese tests us by opening the movie with a harsh version of “Like a Rolling Stone,” Dylan’s voice never sounding worse. Then it develops into one of the few good rock docs, by not singlemindedly focusing on a particular artist but bringing in his influences and surroundings, making an artistic portrait of an era. Great editing by his usual rock doc collaborator David Tedeschi, skips around in time and makes it work.

Animals *and* birds??

“You can’t be wise and in love at the same time.” For almost an hour he’s not even a folkie yet, so this is closest to the Velvet Underground doc that goes deep into their roots and skims their actual popular career. Then it ends before his ’66 motorcycle crash, only a year after Going Electric. Present-day Joan Baez steals yet another rock doc.

by ·Comments Off on Festival (1967, Murray Lerner)

Another concert compilation film, this one taken from multiple years of folk fests.

PP&M sing their hit song about having a hammer and a couple Dylan tunes, but more importantly Mary appears to have two moles on her neck in a vampire bite pattern. Seeger sings about creamed corn, some bluegrass guys tear it up, some blues guys chill it out. Joan Baez gets the best lines during an autograph session and an after-show interview, including telling fans “don’t get so hysterical,” which hits hard in this beatlemanic era. She’s down to earth in a film otherwise full of statements like “you don’t choose to play music, music chooses to play you.”

Blue Ridge Mountain Dancers:

Movie stops dead while a couple of guys attempt to explain the blues, less successfully than the Edward Bland movie explained jazz. I appreciate the continuation of a TNT Show theme by showing the white audience clap out-of-time with Howlin’ Wolf. Lerner had a perfect career, making nothing but rock docs. One of the DPs later shot more than one Dick Sargent thriller.

by ·Comments Off on When We Were Kings (1996, Leon Gast)

The champ, George Foreman, vs. the kid, Muhammad Ali, in Zaire
And other politics involved in the affair
Including rare footage leading up to the event
Plus, interviews with VIPs, remembering the effects
…
We heard about that legendary clashing of the titans
But could never have contextualized the metrics or environment
Until, 90 minutes of history
And images and music, I was riveted, infinity

Listened/half-watched while assembling furniture after turning on Henry Fonda For President and realizing it had subtitles. Good movie.

by ·Comments Off on Don’t Look Back (1967, D.A. Pennebaker)

Pretty funny that as the Beatles came to the USA playing havoc in the media with their jokey answers to interview questions, Dylan went to England to do the same. This is more of a hotel room hangout movie than expected, and Bob gets aggressive and confrontational. Joan Baez comes across a ton better than she did in the TNT Show, harmonizing with Bob on Hank Williams songs. They’re in full folkie mode, Bob not having Gone Electric until a couple months after filming.

When I said Joan comes across well I meant musically, not lighting

unrelated: guess who I’ve got tickets to see this summer

by ·Comments Off on The Big T.N.T. Show (1966, Larry Peerce)

The Stones didn’t show up this time but the crowd still shrieks annoyingly while actor David “Man From UNCLE” McCallum leads the orchestra in “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction.” Turns out the crowd can be controlled – they shut the fuck up and focus on clapping out of time when Petula Clark starts “Downtown,” then resume yelling for The Lovin’ Spoonful’s singer looking silly hugging an autoharp. Ray Charles gets a big rocker, Bo Diddley chugs on the guitar, The Byrds dress stylishly and jangle on, and Joan Baez plays a song from Inside Llewyn Davis. Movie catches fire with the Ronettes into Roger Miller (the only one who talks to the crowd between songs). Donovan gets an appropriately pretentious intro (Dylan was wise not to accept the invitation) and after he mystifies the crowd, Ike and Tina bring the energy the hell back up for a raucous finale. Good movie.

Petula silences the screams:

Bo lets the girls rock out:

Joan kills the mood:

The Sparks Brothers say what are WE doing here?

Roger plays to the camera:

The crowd puzzles over Donovan:

Tina takes it home:

But there would be no next year: