Some
forty-two years ago, a little-seen hour-long documentary was filmed of
an up-and-coming London blues band as they toured Ireland for the first
time. Clearly meant to capitalise on the success of The Beatles’
cinematic odyssey, A Hard Day’s Night, Charlie is my Darling was only
the opening salvo in a long-running courtship of the camera for The
Rolling Stones.
In a movie career that included flights of fabulous
self-indulgent whimsy (1968’s The Rolling Stones’ Rock and Roll Circus),
new wave meditations by Jean-Luc Godard (Sympathy for the Devil, 1968),
and unintentionally cementing their image as Their Satanic Majesties
(1970’s Gimme Shelter), there hasn’t been a decade since The Rolling
Stones’ inception without a visual document. So, in the 46th
year of their partnership and with their youngest member about to turn
60, it’s only fitting that the Stones sought out a very famous fan to
helm their latest motion picture offering.
The sense of epic happening that Martin Scorsese’s
name lends to Shine a Light is nearly as thrilling as its very basic
premise of capturing the impossibly enduring excitement of a Rolling
Stones live show. For many years, the Rolling Stones have sold their
records mostly to their faithful legion of fans seemingly uncaring about
trifles such a chart positions or album sales. They know their meat and
majesty comes from their legendary live act. Scorsese lets the viewer
close enough to truly marvel at the Fountain of Youth the Stones plunge
into every night on stage. The up-close and intimate camerawork never
pretties up the craggy depths of the Stones’ wrinkled faces that
resemble a Mount Rushmore of Rock, yet allows us to feast on the
boundless energy that each member pulls from the joy of their music and
the pulse of their rapturous crowds. Scorsese’s ardent presence answers
the question that is on the mind of any concert viewer, ‘How are they
able to sound fresh playing the same songs for over 40 years?’ Keith
Richards called their songs “our babies” during the press conference for
the film, and they are still the proud parents of each ditty you hear on
the oldies station today, except that to these men, these songs are
still the stuff of BBC bans and frightened mothers everywhere. They
attack the music as if they wrote the songs yesterday and they are only
too proud to show them off to the awestruck crowd. Never mind that that
crowd would be happy to just have Mick Jagger and Keith Richards read
from the phonebook for them, they refuse to phone in their performance,
working for every second of applause.
A word about Mick Jagger, or more precisely a word
to his cook. Mr. Chef, if I promise not to tell anyone, will you please
tell me what it is your employer eats? What exactly is the veggie to
carb ratio going on there? How many pharmaceuticals are involved in
gifting that 64-year-old man with the slim, fit physique that would put
men a third his age to shame? While shown judiciously here, this
grandfather’s got abs - and arms! Watching this senior citizen do his
electric chicken dances as if it were 1972 - running at the crowd,
prancing across the stage with automaton hips switching back and forth
like Fleet Week in the red light district while never missing a beat (-
or a lyric) is just too much. My vote for best special effects
Oscar goes to whoever designed the Jaggerbot, or programmed the
hologram, because that level of energy couldn’t be real, not for anyone,
much less a man who gets junk mail from the AARP. Yet there he was,
shaking it the way Tina Turner taught him and speaking in his Cockney
Ebonics that transforms the Sympathy for the Devil lyric, “Tell me baby,
what’s my name?” into Mushmouth’s chorus of “Tabbe be beebah, what’s ba
debah?” Time may have had some way with his voice, he leaves some of the
longer and higher notes to his backup singers, but other aspects have
actually improved with age.
The Stones bring out some guests to duet with them,
including Jack White of the White Stripes and Christina Aguilera (-
who was always the Stones to Britney’s Beatles), both are
understandably in awe of sharing the stage with these rock icons.
However, the Stones’ jam session on “Champagne and Reefer” with blues
guitar legend Buddy Guy is the highlight of the show. In everything from
playing to singing, Guy schools the Stones and in that moment you can
see the young, mopheaded boys of 1965, who introduced Howlin’ Wolf as
their guest on Shindig. They are awestruck, seemingly competing with
each other for Guy’s attention; Mick Jagger’s blues harmonica skills are
virtuoso, and in all the glamour of the social life of the ultimate
jet-setter, you realised you’d forgotten he’s first and foremost a
musician. Keith Richards allows Guy to shine (- I don’t think he
could stop him if he tried), and hands him the guitar off his back
at the end of the song. It’s a wonderful moment to realise that after
all they’ve seen and done, that The Rolling Stones can still be
impressed by anything they see on a stage.
Would that there were more eye-opening moments like
these. Shine a Light opens with a mostly black and white montage of the
feverish preparations to mount the show at New York’s Beacon Theatre.
Martin Scorsese appears in these sequences as much the featured star as
the Stones, indulging in director-speak as he ponders camera angles and
rigging setups. His affectionate negotiations with Jagger for what the
film crew can and cannot do that might affect the concert audience or
the Stones onstage are hilarious. “It’s in the contract, we can’t set
Mick Jagger on fire,” Scorsese explains to a lighting man whose plans
include a crispier lead singer. It’s a nice running gag for the moment
toward the end of the film when Jagger yells, “These lights are burning
up my ass!” Scorsese’s panic in the absence of a set list until the very
last moment before the band hits the stage is a scream. The prep
sequences are some of the best in the film and I wish more had been
included. With Scorsese’s access and the obvious trust the band placed
in him, we missed a chance to get some great insight on what goes on
backstage and in the planning stages of a Rolling Stones show.
The other highlight was the inclusion of the
archival footage cut throughout the film giving counterpoint and history
to the band of pensioners we are watching onstage. Watching the
fresh-faced, wide-eyed 21-year old Jagger discuss his surprise with a
reporter that his band has lasted a whopping two years and would
probably be around for one more is priceless. Similarly, the footage of
Jagger’s and Richards’ arrest after the infamous 1967 Redlands drug
bust, shows just how much was made over very little: Jagger’s being made
to sit with members of the clergy to discuss his wrongdoing had to have
been ludicrous even then. Scorsese uses the archives sparingly enough to
tease but not enough to distract (- except in the montage during
Keith’s version of “Connection”; of course that would be one of our
favourite songs) - but you can’t help but be awed by the history. I
would love to see Scorsese do a documentary of his own based on his
narrative powers and judicial use of the clips seen here. Those lively
moments do buoy up some uneven pacing; Shine a Light is heavy on the
slow and mid tempo stuff, and instead of making edits to move things
along, Scorsese, like the good fan he is, allows the extended versions
of many of the songs to play in their entirety and the whole films
occasionally drags. Also working against Scorsese is the fact is that so
many of these songs have been filmed before. Their lengthy version of
“Just My Imagination” seemed to go on for hours; having seen the more
abbreviated version filmed by Hal Ashby in 1983’s Let’s Spend the Night
Together, I much prefer the earlier model. Besides Connection, the other
‘oh wow’ moment was the inclusion of "As Tears Go By", which Jagger
explains they never played live before having been too embarrassed at
writing it and handing it to a girl (- Marianne Faithfull).
I hope for more, ‘oh wow’ moments like these, but
instead had to satisfy (- NPI) myself with an incredible
performance by the Stones in a film that lives up to a bit less than
it’s potential. The bar has been raised for concert films by the
remarkable U23D,
and I wish in its narrative and perhaps by making use of the technology available
that Shine a Light had been equally innovative and extraordinary.
However, as a Stones fan, it was still a thrill to see these Rock Gods
of nearly half a century simply get up and put on a live show that would
put any band of young whippersnappers to shame.
~ The
Lady Miz Diva
March 28th, 2008
PS:
Click here for our coverage of The Rolling
Stones and Martin Scorsese's New York press conference, including our
exclusive up close and personal photos from the front row!
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