WEBVTT - Top 5 Music Docs | Archive 0:00:03.870 --> 0:00:05.790 What kind of a show are you guys putting on 0:00:05.850 --> 0:00:06.330 here today? 0:00:06.450 --> 0:00:07.590 You're not interested in art? 0:00:07.670 --> 0:00:07.870 No. 0:00:08.090 --> 0:00:09.340 Well, look, we're going to do this thing. 0:00:09.360 --> 0:00:10.600 We're going to have a conversation. 0:00:13.240 --> 0:00:14.180 Hey, film spotters. 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.220 As we were thinking about this archive episode and what 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:21.200 we should drop into the feed, a couple things were 0:00:21.220 --> 0:00:24.510 on our minds. First, Oasis, don't look back in anger. 0:00:25.010 --> 0:00:30.240 The New documentary out September 11th, which is the chronicle 0:00:30.580 --> 0:00:34.250 of the band's reunion, Josh, for their 2025 tour. 0:00:34.729 --> 0:00:35.930 Well, that's coming out. 0:00:36.030 --> 0:00:40.150 That's also what was the inspiration for the recent movie 0:00:40.250 --> 0:00:43.850 deathmatch episode that we had in the film spotting feed, 0:00:44.270 --> 0:00:47.490 pitting the two greatest concert films of all time against 0:00:47.530 --> 0:00:51.400 each other, Stop Making Sense and The Last Waltz. So 0:00:52.300 --> 0:00:55.480 we thought, well, what's in the archive that's relevant today? 0:00:56.500 --> 0:00:58.640 To these movies. 0:00:59.780 --> 0:01:04.410 And we thought about our last Waltz episode, talked about 0:01:04.450 --> 0:01:07.670 it for its 45th anniversary in 2023. As part of 0:01:07.709 --> 0:01:11.209 that show, we did our top five music documentaries. That's 0:01:11.230 --> 0:01:12.390 what we're dusting off here. 0:01:12.930 --> 0:01:16.330 We did. And both of those titles that Movie Deathmatch 0:01:16.850 --> 0:01:21.110 consider made our list. Not shocking that that happened. Also 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.240 looking at mine, I won't give it away, but A crossover, 0:01:25.300 --> 0:01:28.580 let's just say, for me, with our movie tattoos we 0:01:28.620 --> 0:01:31.220 would get. Yes. That were both, I think, inching ever 0:01:31.580 --> 0:01:35.410 closer towards actually getting at some point. But yeah, one 0:01:35.430 --> 0:01:39.010 of my picks here, also one of my movie tattoos. 0:01:39.450 --> 0:01:43.190 We'll see if listeners can place that as they listen 0:01:43.209 --> 0:01:44.410 to our picks here going ahead. 0:01:44.850 --> 0:01:45.030 Yeah. 0:01:45.250 --> 0:01:48.750 A reminder that you can access the Film Spotting Archive 0:01:48.810 --> 0:01:52.420 and episodes and segments like this at your fingertips by 0:01:52.600 --> 0:01:57.810 becoming a family member at Learn more at filmspottingfamily.com. Here 0:01:57.910 --> 0:02:00.690 is our top five music docs. 0:02:00.970 --> 0:02:04.190 You start a conversation, you can't even finish it. 0:02:05.030 --> 0:02:09.209 You're talking a lot, but you're not saying anything. Let's 0:02:09.270 --> 0:02:12.570 get into this week's topic, Josh, with The Last Waltz 0:02:12.650 --> 0:02:16.410 and Robbie Robertson's unfortunate passing. And of course, as we mentioned, 0:02:16.790 --> 0:02:19.630 Stop Making Sense, returning to theaters. We thought it was 0:02:19.690 --> 0:02:23.910 time to share. our top five music documentaries. We did 0:02:23.950 --> 0:02:28.970 consider at first maybe just doing specifically concert films like 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:32.560 The Last Waltz, like Stop Making Sense, decided to broaden 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:35.120 it a little bit, open it up to any documentary 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:39.840 that is about music, is about musicians. I'm sure between 0:02:39.880 --> 0:02:42.300 our lists, we'll cover a few of the different ways 0:02:42.419 --> 0:02:46.980 documentarians have approached this subject matter. It was tough eventually 0:02:47.040 --> 0:02:48.720 to weed it down to just five. 0:02:49.430 --> 0:02:52.750 I think I did end up leaning mostly towards concert docs. 0:02:52.790 --> 0:02:55.410 There's one definitely on my list that wouldn't have made 0:02:55.430 --> 0:02:57.690 it if I was super strict about that. And a 0:02:57.730 --> 0:03:01.650 couple of them do take forays away from the stage. But, 0:03:01.690 --> 0:03:03.460 you know, you need that even in a concert doc, 0:03:03.510 --> 0:03:05.740 even in something like The Last Waltz, we see how 0:03:06.940 --> 0:03:09.639 you have these other elements that bring some context, some 0:03:09.680 --> 0:03:15.470 background information. And maybe some other opportunities for artistic flourishes 0:03:16.120 --> 0:03:19.160 that the filmmaker is otherwise restricted to what's happening on 0:03:19.180 --> 0:03:21.340 the stage, right? And how they can capture that. And 0:03:21.380 --> 0:03:24.200 by broadening it, yeah, we're maybe opening the door to 0:03:24.300 --> 0:03:27.700 some ways that filmmakers put their own stamp on the genre. 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:29.880 Let's dive in. What's your number five? 0:03:29.900 --> 0:03:30.520 All right. 0:03:30.540 --> 0:03:33.290 My number five is Dave Chappelle's Block Party. 0:03:33.590 --> 0:03:37.710 Now, before he joined the ranks of comedy's problematic figures, 0:03:37.750 --> 0:03:38.850 that's where he is now. 0:03:39.070 --> 0:03:40.210 Totally, totally get that. 0:03:40.710 --> 0:03:44.370 Dave Chappelle put together this concert in Brooklyn, and I 0:03:44.410 --> 0:03:48.470 described it in my 2006 review, perhaps ironically, now in hindsight, 0:03:48.490 --> 0:03:53.200 but I described it as inflammatory yet inclusive. So that 0:03:53.240 --> 0:03:56.340 last quality, it might have fallen away in your sense 0:03:56.380 --> 0:03:58.760 when it comes to Chappelle, but as a musical document, 0:03:58.960 --> 0:04:04.770 it still applies to this music documentary, Dave Chappelle's Block Party. 0:04:05.030 --> 0:04:08.280 And he even describes it, in the film as the 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:12.440 concert I've always wanted to see. So this includes artists 0:04:12.540 --> 0:04:18.830 like Mo Steph, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, The Roots, and 0:04:18.850 --> 0:04:20.210 a reunion at the time. 0:04:20.110 --> 0:04:20.529 Of the Fugees. 0:04:20.550 --> 0:04:21.890 You have something in your throat there? 0:04:22.110 --> 0:04:25.130 Yeah, Kanye, you know, he's more of an issue than 0:04:25.190 --> 0:04:26.430 Chappelle at the moment, right? Yes. 0:04:26.529 --> 0:04:27.050 Way more. 0:04:27.510 --> 0:04:32.770 So I get that as well, but still, watching revisiting 0:04:32.810 --> 0:04:35.210 clips of this and some of these performances, I have 0:04:35.250 --> 0:04:38.920 to highlight his rendition of Jesus Walks with John Legend 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:40.440 and a marching. 0:04:44.610 --> 0:05:03.010 Band. 0:05:03.270 --> 0:05:05.810 So I think that lineup speaks for itself, but What 0:05:05.910 --> 0:05:09.030 makes this distinct for me is also Chappelle as this 0:05:09.130 --> 0:05:12.050 giddy host who's just so over the moon that this 0:05:12.070 --> 0:05:15.310 thing has come together, as ramshackle as it is. And 0:05:15.350 --> 0:05:18.339 he's doing interviews with the stars, of course, but he's 0:05:18.380 --> 0:05:20.800 also hanging out in this neighborhood. I think of this 0:05:20.839 --> 0:05:23.520 interview with a couple of ancient hippies who happen to 0:05:23.580 --> 0:05:26.520 live on the same block and really have no idea 0:05:26.560 --> 0:05:29.840 what's going on. The whole thing is loose. There's a 0:05:29.860 --> 0:05:32.620 sense of camaraderie to it. And I think some of 0:05:32.640 --> 0:05:36.080 that probably comes from the director here, Michelle Gondry. No 0:05:36.140 --> 0:05:39.940 stranger to ramshackle dreams, he did Be Kind, Rewind, The 0:05:39.960 --> 0:05:42.880 Science of Sleep, and then, you know, a bit more polished, 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:45.539 I would say, a great one, Eternal Sunshine of the 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:49.020 Spotless Mind. So yeah, this pick comes with some caveats. 0:05:49.440 --> 0:05:52.700 Chappelle and West totally understand if people just don't want 0:05:52.720 --> 0:05:55.260 to make time for either of them these days, but 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.730 still as a document of a more promising time for 0:05:57.770 --> 0:05:59.650 both of them, as well as just a different sort 0:05:59.670 --> 0:06:01.850 of concert doc in general, I'm going to start my 0:06:01.890 --> 0:06:03.390 list with Dave Chappelle's Block Party. 0:06:04.060 --> 0:06:07.740 That is a wonderful performance from Kanye that you singled out. 0:06:08.360 --> 0:06:11.599 And also, thank you, Ramshackle Dreams is going to be 0:06:11.620 --> 0:06:12.580 the name of my next band. 0:06:12.940 --> 0:06:14.300 All right, you got it. It's all yours. 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:14.740 Well said. 0:06:15.540 --> 0:06:19.310 My number five music documentary is from director Sam Jones, 0:06:19.380 --> 0:06:22.550 who has come up this year on the show with 0:06:22.900 --> 0:06:27.089 another revealing making of an album documentary. He's the director 0:06:27.150 --> 0:06:30.150 of Jason Isbell, Running With Our Eyes Closed. My pick 0:06:30.850 --> 0:06:34.370 is I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. the chronicle 0:06:34.470 --> 0:06:38.570 of the making of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot from the band Wilco. 0:06:38.950 --> 0:06:42.450 And in the trailer, you hear music critic and fellow 0:06:42.830 --> 0:06:47.000 podcaster slash radio host on WBEZ, Greg Cott, say, it's 0:06:47.040 --> 0:06:49.660 not a VH1 behind the music story. It's not a 0:06:49.720 --> 0:06:52.580 drugs groupie celebrity kind of story at all. This band's 0:06:52.620 --> 0:06:57.670 story is the music. And he is so right. Just today, 0:06:58.460 --> 0:07:03.460 rewatching clips reminded me how incredible the album that this 0:07:03.520 --> 0:07:08.080 film documents the making of is. For people who don't 0:07:08.220 --> 0:07:09.940 feel the same way about the music that I do, 0:07:10.560 --> 0:07:12.000 is the documentary still compelling? 0:07:12.440 --> 0:07:14.220 I don't know, but it should be. 0:07:14.780 --> 0:07:17.610 It isn't a drugs or groupies or celebrity kind of story, 0:07:17.630 --> 0:07:21.550 but there's plenty of drama. You've got a fairly established band. 0:07:21.950 --> 0:07:25.810 This is their fourth album, I believe. It's a fairly, 0:07:25.930 --> 0:07:29.780 up to this point, straight-ahead kind of alt-rock band. And 0:07:29.820 --> 0:07:33.180 here they're taking a huge musical swing. That's enough of 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:38.120 a decent narrative through line. Add in the fact that 0:07:38.350 --> 0:07:43.060 they are taking this ambitious step and their label hates it. 0:07:44.030 --> 0:07:46.250 And they hate it so much they cut them from 0:07:46.290 --> 0:07:51.050 the label. Only to end up eventually signing. The band 0:07:51.070 --> 0:07:55.890 eventually signs with the subsidiary of their previous label. They're 0:07:55.910 --> 0:07:57.930 both subsidiaries of the same unit. 0:07:58.270 --> 0:07:58.430 So. 0:07:59.460 --> 0:08:01.600 As the joke goes, they basically got paid twice to 0:08:01.640 --> 0:08:04.430 make the same album that one of the groups rejected. 0:08:04.850 --> 0:08:08.210 And if that's not enough, two of the key creative 0:08:08.250 --> 0:08:12.710 forces in the group, Jeff Tweedy and Jay Bennett, are 0:08:12.770 --> 0:08:16.000 not seeing eye to eye at all. And that results 0:08:16.100 --> 0:08:21.060 in Bennett, during the making of this movie, Bennett being 0:08:21.140 --> 0:08:25.160 expelled from the band. So you have all this tension 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:29.340 and conflict. which you can see is taking its toll 0:08:29.440 --> 0:08:33.500 on Tweety, but there are no major fireworks either that 0:08:33.559 --> 0:08:38.460 I recall. It all sort of unfolds very plaintively, like 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:43.230 Wilco and their music. Not all of their music, mind you, 0:08:43.650 --> 0:08:45.850 but especially some of the songs on this album, and 0:08:46.530 --> 0:08:49.809 a song like the opening track, the opening track of 0:08:49.870 --> 0:08:52.829 this movie. The opening credits is one of my favorite 0:08:52.850 --> 0:08:54.829 parts of this film, where you have this kind of 0:08:55.010 --> 0:08:56.360 grungily beautiful. 0:08:57.750 --> 0:09:00.150 Two-minute black and white sequence. The whole film is in 0:09:00.170 --> 0:09:04.930 black and white. It's Tweety driving through Chicago, going to rehearsal, 0:09:05.030 --> 0:09:08.890 wherever the band is playing or recording. And most of it, 0:09:09.210 --> 0:09:11.510 you're just seeing his point of view of the city. 0:09:11.610 --> 0:09:14.309 You're not really aware of that until much later into 0:09:14.630 --> 0:09:19.970 the montage that it's him driving. But you're getting his perspective. 0:09:20.330 --> 0:09:24.610 And the song that's playing over this is the album's 0:09:24.650 --> 0:09:27.050 first track and the movie's title track, I Am Trying 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:30.770 to Break Your Heart But it's not the funkier, eclectic 0:09:31.270 --> 0:09:35.000 album version. It's this acoustic version, sounds more like a 0:09:35.059 --> 0:09:39.540 demo of just Tweety and his guitar. And you would 0:09:39.740 --> 0:09:45.860 almost think it's this earnest love song, except for that 0:09:46.020 --> 0:09:51.330 undertow of pain and aggression in the declaration, I am 0:09:51.390 --> 0:09:52.610 trying to break your heart. 0:09:53.470 --> 0:09:59.970 I am trying to break your heart. I'm trying to. 0:10:19.760 --> 0:10:24.130 That's actually at the center of this film. And also 0:10:25.110 --> 0:10:27.770 this excitement, this excitement around the fact that they are 0:10:28.809 --> 0:10:31.550 doing something new, that they are being more adventurous with 0:10:31.850 --> 0:10:36.000 their music. And fortunately, Josh, things work out in the end. 0:10:36.910 --> 0:10:40.520 Yankee Hotel Foxtrot ends up being their most successful album 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:42.800 to date. It's the one that most critics look back 0:10:42.900 --> 0:10:45.359 on and still hail as a masterpiece and one of 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:47.949 the best of that period. And I feel that way 0:10:48.010 --> 0:10:50.770 as well, which is also a reason why I love 0:10:51.210 --> 0:10:52.550 I'm Trying to Break Your Heart so much. 0:10:53.130 --> 0:10:54.610 Love that album. Love Wilco. 0:10:54.650 --> 0:10:57.410 And this was next up on my homework list that 0:10:57.910 --> 0:11:01.350 I unfortunately didn't get to. So can't comment myself, but 0:11:01.410 --> 0:11:04.319 it makes me think I did hear from one of 0:11:04.340 --> 0:11:08.100 my favorite music writers, Eric Danielson. He writes actually for 0:11:08.140 --> 0:11:12.100 the Columbia Daily Tribune, and he was suggesting this to 0:11:12.120 --> 0:11:13.640 me saying, you got to catch up with this one 0:11:13.660 --> 0:11:15.080 if you can before making your list. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:16.699 And Found his note here. 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:18.960 He just said it's one of the great creative process 0:11:18.980 --> 0:11:22.260 docs I've ever seen. And Eric's seen way more of 0:11:22.300 --> 0:11:25.459 these documentaries than I have. So I believe him and 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:29.300 I believe you. All right. At number four, I don't know, 0:11:29.400 --> 0:11:31.390 maybe should have asked this question at the top, but 0:11:31.830 --> 0:11:34.310 it seems to me that it's right that this list 0:11:34.370 --> 0:11:36.689 is going to lend itself more to personal. 0:11:36.350 --> 0:11:37.190 Taste, maybe. 0:11:37.270 --> 0:11:39.730 Just the fact that music is being the main ingredient. 0:11:40.309 --> 0:11:43.370 I feel like that's where I was drawn to maybe 0:11:44.140 --> 0:11:47.660 giving some leeway to the documentaries simply because I loved 0:11:47.990 --> 0:11:50.750 the music so much. And so this is a personal 0:11:50.850 --> 0:12:01.030 one at number four, Rattle and Hum, 1988, U2. It's 0:12:01.070 --> 0:12:02.069 personal because. 0:12:01.809 --> 0:12:03.790 This is not a beloved music doc. 0:12:03.860 --> 0:12:06.800 I know it's had that reputation pretty much since it 0:12:06.820 --> 0:12:10.140 came out and has stayed that way, especially for U2 detractors. 0:12:10.179 --> 0:12:12.740 But for me personally, to have this movie come out 0:12:12.780 --> 0:12:14.579 in 88, there was no way it wasn't going to 0:12:14.620 --> 0:12:17.460 be formative. I mean, this is when I was just 0:12:17.540 --> 0:12:20.920 seriously getting into music, really choosing what I was going 0:12:20.940 --> 0:12:25.170 to spend my hard-earned lawn mowing money on. What tapes 0:12:25.429 --> 0:12:27.370 am I going to buy, Adam? And so I would 0:12:27.410 --> 0:12:31.230 actually buy something like R.E.M. 's Green album or U2' s 0:12:31.090 --> 0:12:34.190 Joshua Tree, some of the first music I actually owned. 0:12:34.530 --> 0:12:36.939 And so Rattle and Hum, you know, not only the 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:41.120 album follow-up to Joshua Tree, but This music documentary of 0:12:41.179 --> 0:12:44.439 that tour, of the Joshua Tree Tour across America, chronicled 0:12:44.460 --> 0:12:47.970 the band's performances and collaborations as well with the likes 0:12:47.990 --> 0:12:51.370 of Bob Dylan, B.B. King, the New Voices of Freedom 0:12:51.429 --> 0:12:56.350 Gospel Choir, also gave us one of the great U2 songs, Desire. 0:13:17.500 --> 0:13:18.380 What's this film about? 0:13:21.020 --> 0:13:23.000 Sort of a musical journey, really. 0:13:23.020 --> 0:13:24.740 You know? 0:13:26.100 --> 0:13:26.760 That's good. 0:13:27.780 --> 0:13:30.540 Now, you can tell from the lack of an answer 0:13:30.840 --> 0:13:34.950 there and really the lack of participation, the band was 0:13:34.990 --> 0:13:37.970 in a bit of a smug face. And that was 0:13:38.030 --> 0:13:40.970 one of the complaints about the movie overall, that that 0:13:41.010 --> 0:13:43.050 was kind of just coming off of them and coming 0:13:43.110 --> 0:13:46.200 off of the screen. And probably because of that, Rattle 0:13:46.240 --> 0:13:50.040 and Hum barely cracked Rolling Stones. One of the articles 0:13:50.080 --> 0:13:51.940 I tracked down to help me formulate this list was 0:13:51.980 --> 0:13:56.800 Rolling Stones' 70 Greatest Music Documentaries. And again, I think 0:13:56.840 --> 0:13:59.330 it might be the last title on that list. It's 0:13:59.370 --> 0:14:01.589 definitely near the end, but Tim Grierson did offer this 0:14:01.650 --> 0:14:04.390 defense in his blurb on it. At the time of 0:14:04.450 --> 0:14:07.189 its release, this documentary of U2' s Joshua Tree Tour was 0:14:07.270 --> 0:14:11.750 lambasted for its overly reverent, self-important tone. Now, with hindsight, 0:14:11.830 --> 0:14:14.130 Rattle and Hum can be seen properly as an honest 0:14:14.170 --> 0:14:17.090 portrait of the Irish quartet. whose holy quest was to 0:14:17.140 --> 0:14:19.850 change the world through rock and roll. Allow the band's 0:14:19.930 --> 0:14:23.690 piousness and Americana obsessions to turn you off, and you'll 0:14:23.730 --> 0:14:25.890 miss an intriguing look at a band adjusting to a 0:14:25.930 --> 0:14:31.500 global superstar status they haven't relinquished since. So that's Tim Grierson. 0:14:31.780 --> 0:14:34.900 And I'd also argue, you know, that in retrospect, looking 0:14:34.960 --> 0:14:38.920 at it now, you know, Rattle and Hum captures what 0:14:38.970 --> 0:14:41.940 was so essential and exciting about Octoon Baby. and then 0:14:41.960 --> 0:14:44.440 the Zoo TV tour. That was just a few years later. 0:14:44.640 --> 0:14:47.920 And you see a band here in Railroad and Hum 0:14:48.020 --> 0:14:53.340 in desperate need of reassessment and reinvention. The artistic talent 0:14:53.400 --> 0:14:56.400 is there. But yeah, you can see they've hit a 0:14:56.460 --> 0:15:01.290 wall with who they were. And we get them busting 0:15:01.330 --> 0:15:04.710 through that wall and that process starting here, but eventually 0:15:04.730 --> 0:15:08.530 busting through with Octoon Baby. So Aside from the great music, 0:15:08.690 --> 0:15:10.710 you know, a concert doc on a band this big 0:15:10.830 --> 0:15:13.050 is going to need some iconic visuals. And I think 0:15:13.090 --> 0:15:16.930 we get that here from the director, Phil Joano, and 0:15:16.990 --> 0:15:22.110 cinematographers Robert Brinkman and Jordan Cronenweth. They mix black and 0:15:22.150 --> 0:15:24.890 white and color film footage, and visually they're really continuing 0:15:24.910 --> 0:15:30.090 in the vein of Anton Corbain's photos for Joshua Tree. Cronenweth, incidentally, 0:15:30.150 --> 0:15:33.210 he worked on the likes of Blade Runner and The 0:15:33.230 --> 0:15:35.950 Talking Heads concert doc Stop Making Sense, which might just 0:15:36.210 --> 0:15:38.609 come up later, but For now, I've got Rattle on 0:15:38.650 --> 0:15:39.370 Helmet number four. 0:15:42.010 --> 0:15:42.950 What's the film about? 0:15:43.570 --> 0:15:45.330 It's a musical. 0:15:48.070 --> 0:15:53.990 That inarticulateness that you see, that perhaps willful inability to 0:15:54.190 --> 0:15:58.390 articulate what their music's about and what they're trying to 0:15:58.430 --> 0:16:00.820 do as a band, that will connect nicely to an 0:16:00.900 --> 0:16:03.860 upcoming pick of mine. And the other thing I'll say 0:16:03.900 --> 0:16:07.610 about that desire scene is even though they are performing 0:16:07.650 --> 0:16:11.570 for the camera, the vibe is they're rehearsing. It's not 0:16:12.070 --> 0:16:14.790 in front of any kind of audience. And yet there 0:16:14.850 --> 0:16:18.609 is Bono in all of his glory. He's not just 0:16:18.650 --> 0:16:21.330 standing there singing. He is giving it. 0:16:21.530 --> 0:16:27.380 Every second, every ounce of insouciance. He is just glorious, 0:16:27.460 --> 0:16:27.900 isn't he? 0:16:28.480 --> 0:16:29.200 It's incredible. 0:16:29.380 --> 0:16:32.820 And just, yeah, how young they look too is, it. 0:16:34.140 --> 0:16:35.960 Makes you feel not so young. I'll just say that. 0:16:35.980 --> 0:16:36.120 Sure. 0:16:37.210 --> 0:16:40.570 Well, for my number four, I'll start by saying the Oscars, 0:16:40.990 --> 0:16:44.140 as we often bemoan, don't usually get it right, somewhat 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:49.480 notoriously when it comes to best documentary feature. But in 2016, 0:16:49.480 --> 0:16:53.700 they did. This film won the best documentary Oscar, beat out, 0:16:53.800 --> 0:16:56.830 among other films, Joshua Oppenheimer's very good The Look of 0:16:56.870 --> 0:17:01.430 Silence and another very good music documentary, Liz Garbus' What Happened, 0:17:01.490 --> 0:17:04.659 Miss Simone. Definitely recommend that if you haven't seen it. 0:17:05.410 --> 0:17:09.980 But this film is Amy. directed by Asif Kapadia, who 0:17:10.440 --> 0:17:13.439 came onto my radar in 2010 when he made Senna, 0:17:13.900 --> 0:17:16.700 which was one of my top 10 films of that year. 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:21.060 Another documentary about a legendary artist, you could say, who 0:17:21.100 --> 0:17:24.730 died tragically, died too young, Formula One driver Ayrton Senna. 0:17:24.790 --> 0:17:28.830 He was 34. Amy Winehouse was just 27. And the 0:17:28.950 --> 0:17:32.889 same approach I loved in Senna is the one he 0:17:32.930 --> 0:17:35.919 takes with Amy. It's not so uncommon now, but it 0:17:36.020 --> 0:17:38.639 felt very new and vital to me in 2010, and 0:17:38.660 --> 0:17:42.700 it was certainly a departure from most documentaries I had seen, 0:17:42.760 --> 0:17:45.679 and certainly most music documentaries I had seen. This is 0:17:45.740 --> 0:17:50.870 one that relies completely on archival footage to produce what 0:17:51.210 --> 0:17:55.330 he has called quote-unquote true fiction. So he's acknowledging that 0:17:55.369 --> 0:17:59.850 even though it's a documentary, he's of course telling a story, 0:18:00.369 --> 0:18:02.820 there is a narrative, there is a construct to this, 0:18:03.390 --> 0:18:06.959 but It is all actual footage. It's home movies. It's 0:18:07.040 --> 0:18:09.980 performance footage. It's behind-the-scenes recording. 0:18:10.020 --> 0:18:12.030 It's friends. It's family members. It's Amy. 0:18:12.070 --> 0:18:14.590 It's everyone just shooting footage that he was able to 0:18:14.609 --> 0:18:16.890 get his hands on. And they're shooting at a time 0:18:16.950 --> 0:18:21.390 when smartphones weren't ubiquitous, and yet he had this incredible 0:18:21.490 --> 0:18:24.879 trove to cull together. And another choice he makes is 0:18:24.920 --> 0:18:28.459 to let her lyrics tell the story. Literally, the lyrics 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:33.379 often appear on screen, handwritten, and it feels like you're 0:18:33.420 --> 0:18:36.610 getting access to her innermost thoughts. You're reading her diary. 0:18:36.890 --> 0:18:40.150 And that, of course, supports the overall confessional nature of 0:18:40.770 --> 0:18:41.230 the music. 0:18:41.710 --> 0:18:45.520 She would tell me stories about Blake and this tempestuous, 0:18:45.859 --> 0:18:50.740 extreme relationship. That first day she wrote Back to. 0:18:50.680 --> 0:18:53.530 Black, all the lyrics and the melody in two or 0:18:53.590 --> 0:18:54.189 three hours. 0:19:10.090 --> 0:19:16.330 I have to admit, in 2006, I think it was 0:19:16.369 --> 0:19:19.449 when she broke out with the Back to Black album, 0:19:19.470 --> 0:19:22.510 I didn't get the Amy Winehouse phenomenon, but I also 0:19:22.970 --> 0:19:26.399 didn't devote any energy to trying to get it. It 0:19:26.420 --> 0:19:28.780 was just sort of popular music. I heard the songs 0:19:28.820 --> 0:19:32.260 on the radio. I could appreciate it as catchy, but 0:19:32.280 --> 0:19:34.070 that was kind of it. I don't know about you, Josh. 0:19:34.510 --> 0:19:38.590 Then I watched this documentary about 10 years later, and 0:19:38.630 --> 0:19:41.790 without anyone in the film, because there are no talking heads, 0:19:42.430 --> 0:19:47.080 without anyone pronouncing it or contextualizing her greatness for you, 0:19:48.020 --> 0:19:48.869 you just witness it. 0:19:49.460 --> 0:19:50.840 And it's undeniable. 0:19:51.420 --> 0:19:55.859 It's undeniable that she had and was a singular voice. 0:19:56.900 --> 0:19:59.970 You mentioned the Rolling Stone top 70 music docs, which 0:20:00.090 --> 0:20:03.370 I also took a look at. Vulture did a top 50. 0:20:03.369 --> 0:20:06.750 Our friend Noel Murray wrote that piece, and he had 0:20:06.910 --> 0:20:10.360 Amy at number 20 He said, what's most heartbreaking about 0:20:10.450 --> 0:20:12.840 Amy is that all its previously unseen footage shows a 0:20:12.859 --> 0:20:15.300 complex young woman that the public never really got to 0:20:15.340 --> 0:20:17.740 know because it was easier both for the singer and 0:20:17.760 --> 0:20:21.260 the tabloids to sell a simpler story of reckless self-indulgence. 0:20:22.420 --> 0:20:24.220 And one of the feelings I came away with, and 0:20:24.240 --> 0:20:26.639 I know others have expressed this similarly, you'll hear a 0:20:26.700 --> 0:20:31.240 word that will often come up after people experience this film. 0:20:31.859 --> 0:20:33.800 You come away feeling a certain complicity in. 0:20:33.760 --> 0:20:35.140 It all, even if, of course. 0:20:35.840 --> 0:20:39.800 you were never directly or even really indirectly involved in 0:20:39.940 --> 0:20:44.959 exploiting her. You're just very aware of the narrative that 0:20:45.000 --> 0:20:48.840 was created around her and how easy it was for 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:52.080 me as an individual simply to accept that. And the 0:20:52.100 --> 0:20:53.660 documentary shatters that. 0:20:54.260 --> 0:20:59.149 Yeah, definitely my experience. It is, in a sense, a 0:20:59.210 --> 0:21:03.150 cinematic shaming that is due. I think the movie does 0:21:03.190 --> 0:21:06.030 that by showing us their there were friends and family 0:21:06.070 --> 0:21:10.380 who stood by, if not enabled, you know, her. And 0:21:10.880 --> 0:21:12.119 I think we are included in. 0:21:12.080 --> 0:21:12.480 This, Adam. 0:21:12.500 --> 0:21:13.859 That was my experience as well. 0:21:13.920 --> 0:21:15.260 Even if it was just to like laugh at a 0:21:15.280 --> 0:21:18.480 punchline that, you know, a comedian maybe made about her 0:21:18.600 --> 0:21:22.850 erratic behavior. I was, you know, it sounds like similar, 0:21:23.070 --> 0:21:26.990 definitely listened to her pretty common even today, you know, 0:21:27.050 --> 0:21:29.290 to hear her songs being played somewhere in our house. 0:21:29.810 --> 0:21:33.640 But didn't really do a deep dive into her background 0:21:33.680 --> 0:21:36.710 or her story until I saw this documentary. And then, 0:21:37.590 --> 0:21:40.429 you know, did feel bad about not doing that, but 0:21:40.490 --> 0:21:43.530 instead just, I guess it's not even so much that 0:21:43.550 --> 0:21:45.949 I didn't do that, but that I did just accept 0:21:46.090 --> 0:21:48.010 the narrative that was being presented. 0:21:48.109 --> 0:21:48.310 Right. 0:21:48.350 --> 0:21:51.490 And I think this movie, yeah, this movie rightly challenges 0:21:53.150 --> 0:21:55.750 having a relationship like that to musical artists. 0:21:56.350 --> 0:21:56.990 That's a good word. 0:21:57.030 --> 0:21:59.870 It challenges that because You see the footage of Jay 0:21:59.910 --> 0:22:02.820 Leno or whatever making cracks on The Tonight Show. I 0:22:02.859 --> 0:22:05.760 don't think Jay Leno is responsible for Amy Winehouse's death. 0:22:05.980 --> 0:22:08.100 I don't think the movie is suggesting that. And I 0:22:08.460 --> 0:22:10.340 can't even say that I laughed at any of those 0:22:10.380 --> 0:22:14.180 jokes when or if I saw them, but the acceptance 0:22:14.220 --> 0:22:16.480 of them. And the acceptance of them to an extent 0:22:16.530 --> 0:22:21.030 that they were just harmless rather than seeing them as 0:22:21.090 --> 0:22:24.910 part of this larger narrative and the destructiveness of that, 0:22:25.070 --> 0:22:27.629 that's something the movie definitely made me realize. 0:22:30.200 --> 0:22:32.960 All right, number three, I have Summer of Soul. And 0:22:32.980 --> 0:22:34.399 I don't think I'm going to spend a lot of 0:22:34.440 --> 0:22:36.260 time on this one. We've talked about it quite a 0:22:36.260 --> 0:22:39.220 bit on the show. It actually made, I had forgotten 0:22:39.240 --> 0:22:40.570 this until I looked it up, but it made all 0:22:40.640 --> 0:22:43.710 four of our 2021 top 10 lists. That was a 0:22:43.750 --> 0:22:47.110 year-end show we did with Michael Phillips and Dana Stevens. 0:22:47.590 --> 0:22:50.130 And before that, we had previously given it a full 0:22:50.170 --> 0:22:54.350 review on the show as well. So in case you 0:22:55.020 --> 0:22:58.600 hadn't heard any of those conversations and aren't familiar, briefly, 0:22:58.970 --> 0:23:02.050 This is Musician Questlove's rescue project, really, is how I 0:23:02.090 --> 0:23:05.909 describe it. It's a compiling of footage from the Harlem 0:23:05.950 --> 0:23:10.540 Cultural Festival of 1969 that had sat largely unseen for 0:23:10.540 --> 0:23:11.240 50 years. 0:23:12.060 --> 0:23:13.320 So this is who we're talking about here. 0:23:13.859 --> 0:23:18.420