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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of
Scorsese
Posted August 4, 2008 | 02:29 PM (EST)
Read More: Bob Dylan , Bruce Springsteen , Dvds, Martin Scorsese , Movies, Rolling
Stones , The Band , Tv, Entertainment News
Martin Scorsese has directed one of the best
concert films of all time. Unfortunately, it's mostdefinitely NOT Rolling Stones: Shine A Light($34.99; Paramount and only $5 more for theBluRay). It so easily typifies all that is wrong withmost concert films (and especially rock concertfilms), you wonder if Scorsese has watched hisown masterpiece The Last Waltz lately. That film
ranks with Jazz On A Summer's Day, StopMaking Sense, Bob Dylan: The Other Side Of The
Mirror, Monterey Pop and a handful of others as the standard to match for concert films. Some
delve into the atmosphere of the concert setting, going backstage, providing interviews, peeringinto the odd corner. Others focus almost completely on the music. But they all show discipline andcare in the filming and editing. If they find a good angle from which to watch the action on aparticular song, they stick with it for 30 seconds or a minute or even an entire song. If they cutaway, there's always a good reason. Since the performers are so electric, these movies realize theydon't have to cutcutcutcutcut like a frenetic MTV video in order to create some excitement.
Scorsese seems to have forgotten all of this while filming Shine A Light. He wastes 20 minutes or
so on pre-concert silliness, such as the dull sight of watching the Stones meet Bill Clinton's motheror Scorsese hoping to get a set list before the show begins. Oh, the tension! Swooping cameras,massive banks of lights and tons of quick cutting only distract from the fact that the Stones are stilla viable live act and can deliver. Two guest spots are highlights: Jack White has a blast and whenBuddy Guy takes the stage even Scorsese knows to step back and enjoy the fireworks. But it's all tootypical of this wasted effort that the film ends on such a ridiculous note -- not a shot of the Stoneswearied after the concert or an ecstatic crowd but (I can hardly believe it) a FAKE point of viewshot of Mick Jagger leaving the building which means the last person we see is not Mick or Keithbut Scorsese, until the camera pans up to the night sky and a goofy cartoon emblem of the Stonestakes the place of the moon. A wasted opportunity.
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-scorsese-one-ups-sco_b_116824.html [4/5/2009 1:51:48 PM]Other music DVDs just out include Darren Hayes: The Time Machine Tour ($15.99; Powdered
Sugar), which has its share of quick cutting but is rescued for fans by a theatrical set and the best
songs yet from the former Savage Garden singer, especially the one-two punch of "Words" and
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mercurial 60s band Love and lead singer Arthur Lee which will send everyone right back to that
band's masterpiece Forever Changes. And Daft Punk dispense with the concert film completely by
delivering a feature film Electroma ($22.98; Vice) that follows two robots traveling across America
hoping (naturally) to become human - no Daft Punk music but vague and arty enough to play at
the Cannes Film Festival, it's certainly visually striking.
Cult Movies -- Quentin Tarantino gives his movie geek stamp of approval to Inglorious Bastards
($29.95; Severin), a Dirty Dozen -like war movie from 1978 presented in a 3 disc set that includes
loads of extras and even a CD soundtrack. But if Tarantino likes it so much, why is he remakng it?
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own sake. This is not an undiscovered hoot like Bastards but just a strange, strange comedy
remembered for the music of Danny Elfman and Herve Villechaize as the randy King Fausto of the
Sixth Dimension. If you're intrigued by that description, this is the movie for you. Harold &
Kumar Go To White Castle was the best sort of cult movie, a genuinely hilarious flick just left ofcenter enough to make you feel like it belonged to you and not the entire world the way say Junodid. The very disappointing sequel -- Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay ($28.99,
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-scorsese-one-ups-sco_b_116824.html [4/5/2009 1:51:48 PM]
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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terrierist See Profile I'm a Fan of terrierist permalink
Shine A Light in IMax was awesome. I agree that the opening dragged, but it made Jumpin Jack Flash
even more awesome. The camerawork & editing were superb. I would have liked it even better if thebackup singers and bass player Darryl Jones get more camera time.
garlicpowder See Profile I'm a Fan of garlicpowder permalink
Hey Mike- Monterey Pop is overrated, really. The audience is documented separatly from the musicalperformances. I would imagine this is a result of a lack of cameras. Anyway, I think this makes it lessexciting. For example, Otis Reddings historical performance has no reaction from the audience. I knowthe significance of the film and I like Monterey Pop but I dont love it.Also, Sinatra and Red Norvo,awesome disc but cant someone get rid of the hiss?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Re: Sinatra: that's why I'm looking for a great bootleg DVD. Obviously a clean audio for agreat CD would be awesome too. I know what you mean about Monterey, but I think the lackof cameras was a good thing -- it forced them to choose and focus on certain things. I don'treally need to see an audience member applaud when Otis is on fire. Plus that magicalmoment with Shankar is just great. But yes, it's perhaps cruder than future flicks. But don'tyou prefer it to Woodstock?
ohmemercylard See Profile I'm a Fan of ohmemercylard permalink
Huh. I saw Shine a Light in IMAX and had a helluva good time. I liked it. Sorry.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Well, the Stones are a great band and even with lots of cutting and the silly padding, you can'tgo too far wrong. I did think the Jack White and Buddy Guy spots were terrific (the Aguileraless so). I'm glad you enjoyed it and I bet it had more pop on IMAX. But have you seenGimme Shelter? I think it's much much better.
PhillyQuaker See Profile I'm a Fan of PhillyQuaker permalink
I liked seeing Dylan as Alias in Pat Garrett and Billy theKid.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Garrett_and_Billy_the_Kid
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Probably his best on-screen moment, though the bar is very very low :)
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
"Surfwise" certainly is a documentary in a class all by itself. I never realized that people like thatexisted. I guess that"s what they mean by "surf bums". It looks like they had boy babies until they had a
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-scorsese-one-ups-sco_b_116824.html [4/5/2009 1:51:48 PM]
girl baby; then they stopped. One wonders if child 9 hadn"t been a girl if they would have continued to
have more children. How many kids will actually fit in a 24 foot camper anyway? Does Stanford admit
to graduating this malcontent gypsy doctor? Are there more of them out there and are they contagious?
3fingerbrown See Profile I'm a Fan of 3fingerbrown permalink
I'm cheating a little here because it isn't purely a "concert film," but Bob Dylan's "Renaldo and Clara"scarred me for life.
From what I recall, try as I might to blot out the memory, it was a dramatized account of Dylan's Rolling
Thunder Revue, with lots of concert footage and backstage scenes with director-star Dylan as Renaldoand his wife, Sara, as Clara. It was released (escaped?) in 1978 at 292 minutes, and I was one of the
few, the brave, to see it at full length before it was cut in half to feature mostly the badly shot, poorly
recorded concert footage.
All these years later, questions still haunt me: Did the girl I took to "Renaldo and Clara" ever fully
recover from the ordeal ? Did she later spawn a brood of hoofed-and-horned demon children due to
prolonged exposure to Bob Dylan in clown-white makeup? Whatever became of the rescue helicopter
Jimmy Carter sent to liberate the hostages ... I mean, audience?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
You're a brave person indeed. Any movie in which Bob Dylan acts is to be avoided like theplague. The man has (obviously) conquered songwriting and rock n roll and radio shows (w
his Theme Time Radio Hour, which is great fun) and even books with his terrific memoir. But
acting -- never worked for him.
dannyo152 See Profile I'm a Fan of dannyo152 permalink
In defense of Springsteen, maybe it's poor direction. I thought his MTV Unplugged performance was
quite watchable. His No Nukes segment was good too (while the rest of the film was so-so).
Worst concert film, well for me, Woodstock. I tried to watch it once in a theatre, a few years ago as a
matter of fact, and I couldn't make it to the end. Besides its running length, it seems some of the acts
only released their B songs for inclusion, which mades it drag more.
The ABBA movie is also problematic, what with the added off-concert story-line combined with their
touring in support of an album that had weak songs.
Isn't the problem that film people use camera motion and editing to produce excitement which overlays
a distraction to viewing in that it forces focus. Another problem is that the contagious excitement of thecrowd cannot make the leap from live to film/vtr. There's also the post-MTV phenomenon of blockingthe stage a la the music video which then makes it impossible to compress back into frame.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Finally (seriously) I found the MTV Unplugged concert very annoying because they didn'tshow the full song and commentary -- they'd cut into the song to show what Bruce said aboutit or fade out half way through his chat when he clearly had more to say or cut into the middleof the tune as if we'd get bored. They even did it on the DVD. Better than many of his concertfilms because it was so unusual but still....
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Gosh I can talk. Anyway, Woodstock is indeed problematic in many ways. You're exactly rightabout bad concert films - they cut and cut and cut to different camera angles because theythink wrongly that it creates energy and excitement when in fact a great performance doesthat on its own and the cutting only distracts. I've seen plenty of concert films like the onesmentioned above (and Flamenco, a great dance/music film) where the energy of theperformance and the crowd is captured to know it can be done. In the revival of The LastWaltz in NYC, the paying audience I saw it with broke into spontaneous applause after eachgreat number. In Cannes, they showed it on the beach and the French people did the same
thing after the stunning version of "The Weight" and then kept it up during the rest of the film.
The staging and spect ratio can be fluid and should be set during a concert being filmed with
the movie in mind, a la Stop Making Sense. It can be done. Most directors are just dumn and
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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Scorsese should have known better.
DCDan See Profile I'm a Fan of DCDan permalink
Great article, Mr. Giltz.
Seems to bear mentioning -- and brings the discussion full circle -- that one of the
editors of the Woodstock movie was . . . Martin Scorsese! He first cut his teeth infilming music with this project (believe he was one of the cameramen at the festivalas well). Supposedly, one of Scorsese's next projects is a documentary on the life
and music of Bob Marley.
I would disagree with the assertion that Monterey Pop is overrated. It's a taut, well-
paced film that holds up exceptionally well 40 years after its release. I would say,however, that D. A. Pennebaker's other best-known doc is somewhat over-regarded;
that being, Don't Look Back, from Dylan's 1965 UK tour.
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
You have to remember that the movie "Woodstock" is now almost 40 years old and
science and technology have marched way past this movie. When this movie wasoriginally released (somewhere around 1970) the technology used to create the filmwas more state of the art and it was great fun to see the music festival of ageneration documented for all to see. I still like this movie despite itself as there are
too many good memories from that era to dislike it.
Try the DVD of the George Harrison concert "Bangladesh" also from about the same
time frame but somehow done with more loving care and attention paid to the soundquality. The camera angles are less creative and probably more to your likeing.
Many, many, Grateful Dead movies have been made with excruciating detail paid to
the sound quality and visual treats resulting in a superior product.
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Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Danny, it's DEFINITELY poor direction and editing. Springsteen is a magnetic live performerand its almost laughable how poorly he's been served by videos and concert films. On his
compilation DVD of videos and live performances, there's an early performance of
Springsteen singing "The River" where the camera is focused solely on him for virtually the
entire song. (It's a midframe shot I think where you're looking at him fairly dead on. There's a
harsh red stage light behind his head and during the song Springsteen occasionally tilts this
way and that and he's almost completely obscured/hidden by the red light when his head isn't
blocking it from that camera. But there's little cutting during the song, even though this is
"wrong" and the light should be a distraction. Springsteen talks to intro the song (which is
clearly new, the album is just out or maybe coming out) and he's so absorbed in the song thatyou can't take your eyes off him. When he moves a tad and the red light bleeds in, the tensionis great, somehow just emotionally right and then he moves back and you can see him clearlyagain and it's just devastatingly good. I've joked to people I show the clip to that I wouldGLADLY watch that entire concert from the single angle. That's not obvously how I wouldshoot him for an entire show, but I sure as heck wouldn't make 30 cuts during each tune justto maintain "excitement."
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
On stage Springsteen draws himself up into a powerhouse of high volume, highemotion music with an intensity second to none. Off stage and in interviews he hasthis quiet, quiet, shy little voice, kind of like "little boy telling stories and jokes" andthrowing stones into the water on the way to the fishin hole hands in pocket, lookingdown, and shuffling his feet and grinning all the way. He"s like the good natured kidthat sat next to you in high school. What a transformation this guy goes through on
the stage! That"s the thing that always really struck me about Springsteen. Oh, yeah
and his music is pretty good too!
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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Comments are closed for this entryNunziato See Profile I'm a Fan of Nunziato permalink
I find most concert films boring and unwatchable, simply because, as you said, "a single camera placed
5th row center and just pointed at the stage would do a better job" than most directors. I admit, I loved"Shine A Light" in iMax and found myself cheering in the theatre after songs. This film would never
work on home video. But as wonderful as "The Last Waltz" is, I gave up watching concert films after
one of my favorite bands of all time, released the absolute worst concert film of all time, Led Zeppelin's"The Song Remains the Same." The editing is so horrific, you see Jimmy Page's face during the guitarsolo in "No Quarter," and his fingers during Plant's vocals.
As for the "5th row, single cam" theory, one of the best concerts I have ever seen on DVD, is actually a
bootleg of U2 from Irving Plaza. It was pro-shot from a tri-pod in front of the soundboard, about halfwayback. Your perspective of the entire performance, is the exact perspective you would have had if youhad attended the show. Why is that less exciting to watch? Why aren't more music videos and concertfilms recorded this way?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
The Zep concert is insanely goofy -- and you didn't even mention the faux Tolkien segments.The U2 bootleg sounds very satisfying and is probably better than most concert films of theirs(though I actually like the film version Rattle and Hum, unlike most people). Certainly that verybasic approach is a good starting point. Imagination and great intimate angles can give youan experience far superior to sitting in that fifth row (we can't usually hover over the drummeror see the byplay between singer and guitarist from the side of the stage), but they should
always be asking WHY are they cutting in the middle of a sentence to a camera placed in the
balcony and then 10 seconds later to a camera swooping in and then a camera behind the
band and then a camera from the back of the auditorium. I'm not caling for a lack of
imagination, but time and again in the best concert films you see the camera find a great
perspective and then stay there until emotionally or musically there's a reason for cuttingaway to another angle. I avoid bootlegs however because there's just so much darn stuff tolisten to officially that bootlegs scare me. Unless it's Sinatra during that Australian tour withRed Norvo, I don't want to be tempted.
jvarga See Profile I'm a Fan of jvarga permalink
Michael did you know that Starship Troopers 3 comes out on DVD tomorrow? I'm sure it will be evenworse than Starship Troopers 2, especially since the commercial for it showed the stunningly bad battle
suit cgi. Undoubtedly I'll go try and buy it tomorrow at best buy, but yeah, I have pretty low
expectations. Somehow Denise Richards' character isn't in it, but Casper Van Diem obviously had
nothing else to do :P
The only concert dvds I have are Pink Floyd's Pulse, and Roger Water's In The Flesh, both of which
were good. Its hard for pink floyd to have a dvd represent the live show, unless your tv room isshooting gigawatt lasers at you and has giant inflatable pigs, so I can see that as being similar toSpringsteen's dvds not representing his showmanship. The Roger Waters concert I saw was pretty lowkey, they even had a couch on stage where he and some of the musicians sat and drank tea whileguitar solos were going on, so it didn't lose much in the transition to my apartment.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Maybe the Roger Waters/Pink Floyd concerts need to be shot in 3-D and will have to wait forthe home stereo media systems that can do them justice. I may be one of the few peoplewho ranks The Final Cut right after Dark Side, though I can't say much for Hitchhiking and hisofficial solo work. Still, the idea of them drinking tea during a guitar solo is hilarious. Whilethose spectacles may be hard to capture (the theatricality might not translate and it's likewatching a videotape of a Broadway musical -- you get the idea but it's not the same). And
yet, that's not the problem with Springsteen -- if the directors and editors would just get out of
the way, he could certainly be captured wonderfully on film. Sadly, I have not been sentStarship Troopers 3 or I would gladly review it (and hopefully any new group shower scenes).
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DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of
Scorsese
Posted August 4, 2008 | 02:29 PM (EST)
Read More: Bob Dylan , Bruce Springsteen , Dvds, Martin Scorsese , Movies, Rolling
Stones , The Band , Tv, Entertainment News
Martin Scorsese has directed one of the best
concert films of all time. Unfortunately, it's mostdefinitely NOT Rolling Stones: Shine A Light($34.99; Paramount and only $5 more for theBluRay). It so easily typifies all that is wrong withmost concert films (and especially rock concertfilms), you wonder if Scorsese has watched hisown masterpiece The Last Waltz lately. That film
ranks with Jazz On A Summer's Day, StopMaking Sense, Bob Dylan: The Other Side Of The
Mirror, Monterey Pop and a handful of others as the standard to match for concert films. Some
delve into the atmosphere of the concert setting, going backstage, providing interviews, peeringinto the odd corner. Others focus almost completely on the music. But they all show discipline andcare in the filming and editing. If they find a good angle from which to watch the action on aparticular song, they stick with it for 30 seconds or a minute or even an entire song. If they cutaway, there's always a good reason. Since the performers are so electric, these movies realize theydon't have to cutcutcutcutcut like a frenetic MTV video in order to create some excitement.
Scorsese seems to have forgotten all of this while filming Shine A Light. He wastes 20 minutes or
so on pre-concert silliness, such as the dull sight of watching the Stones meet Bill Clinton's motheror Scorsese hoping to get a set list before the show begins. Oh, the tension! Swooping cameras,massive banks of lights and tons of quick cutting only distract from the fact that the Stones are stilla viable live act and can deliver. Two guest spots are highlights: Jack White has a blast and whenBuddy Guy takes the stage even Scorsese knows to step back and enjoy the fireworks. But it's all tootypical of this wasted effort that the film ends on such a ridiculous note -- not a shot of the Stoneswearied after the concert or an ecstatic crowd but (I can hardly believe it) a FAKE point of viewshot of Mick Jagger leaving the building which means the last person we see is not Mick or Keithbut Scorsese, until the camera pans up to the night sky and a goofy cartoon emblem of the Stonestakes the place of the moon. A wasted opportunity.
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band's masterpiece Forever Changes. And Daft Punk dispense with the concert film completely by
delivering a feature film Electroma ($22.98; Vice) that follows two robots traveling across America
hoping (naturally) to become human - no Daft Punk music but vague and arty enough to play at
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Sixth Dimension. If you're intrigued by that description, this is the movie for you. Harold &
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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terrierist See Profile I'm a Fan of terrierist permalink
Shine A Light in IMax was awesome. I agree that the opening dragged, but it made Jumpin Jack Flash
even more awesome. The camerawork & editing were superb. I would have liked it even better if thebackup singers and bass player Darryl Jones get more camera time.
garlicpowder See Profile I'm a Fan of garlicpowder permalink
Hey Mike- Monterey Pop is overrated, really. The audience is documented separatly from the musicalperformances. I would imagine this is a result of a lack of cameras. Anyway, I think this makes it lessexciting. For example, Otis Reddings historical performance has no reaction from the audience. I knowthe significance of the film and I like Monterey Pop but I dont love it.Also, Sinatra and Red Norvo,awesome disc but cant someone get rid of the hiss?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Re: Sinatra: that's why I'm looking for a great bootleg DVD. Obviously a clean audio for agreat CD would be awesome too. I know what you mean about Monterey, but I think the lackof cameras was a good thing -- it forced them to choose and focus on certain things. I don'treally need to see an audience member applaud when Otis is on fire. Plus that magicalmoment with Shankar is just great. But yes, it's perhaps cruder than future flicks. But don'tyou prefer it to Woodstock?
ohmemercylard See Profile I'm a Fan of ohmemercylard permalink
Huh. I saw Shine a Light in IMAX and had a helluva good time. I liked it. Sorry.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Well, the Stones are a great band and even with lots of cutting and the silly padding, you can'tgo too far wrong. I did think the Jack White and Buddy Guy spots were terrific (the Aguileraless so). I'm glad you enjoyed it and I bet it had more pop on IMAX. But have you seenGimme Shelter? I think it's much much better.
PhillyQuaker See Profile I'm a Fan of PhillyQuaker permalink
I liked seeing Dylan as Alias in Pat Garrett and Billy theKid.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Garrett_and_Billy_the_Kid
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Probably his best on-screen moment, though the bar is very very low :)
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
"Surfwise" certainly is a documentary in a class all by itself. I never realized that people like thatexisted. I guess that"s what they mean by "surf bums". It looks like they had boy babies until they had a
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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girl baby; then they stopped. One wonders if child 9 hadn"t been a girl if they would have continued to
have more children. How many kids will actually fit in a 24 foot camper anyway? Does Stanford admit
to graduating this malcontent gypsy doctor? Are there more of them out there and are they contagious?
3fingerbrown See Profile I'm a Fan of 3fingerbrown permalink
I'm cheating a little here because it isn't purely a "concert film," but Bob Dylan's "Renaldo and Clara"scarred me for life.
From what I recall, try as I might to blot out the memory, it was a dramatized account of Dylan's Rolling
Thunder Revue, with lots of concert footage and backstage scenes with director-star Dylan as Renaldoand his wife, Sara, as Clara. It was released (escaped?) in 1978 at 292 minutes, and I was one of the
few, the brave, to see it at full length before it was cut in half to feature mostly the badly shot, poorly
recorded concert footage.
All these years later, questions still haunt me: Did the girl I took to "Renaldo and Clara" ever fully
recover from the ordeal ? Did she later spawn a brood of hoofed-and-horned demon children due to
prolonged exposure to Bob Dylan in clown-white makeup? Whatever became of the rescue helicopter
Jimmy Carter sent to liberate the hostages ... I mean, audience?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
You're a brave person indeed. Any movie in which Bob Dylan acts is to be avoided like theplague. The man has (obviously) conquered songwriting and rock n roll and radio shows (w
his Theme Time Radio Hour, which is great fun) and even books with his terrific memoir. But
acting -- never worked for him.
dannyo152 See Profile I'm a Fan of dannyo152 permalink
In defense of Springsteen, maybe it's poor direction. I thought his MTV Unplugged performance was
quite watchable. His No Nukes segment was good too (while the rest of the film was so-so).
Worst concert film, well for me, Woodstock. I tried to watch it once in a theatre, a few years ago as a
matter of fact, and I couldn't make it to the end. Besides its running length, it seems some of the acts
only released their B songs for inclusion, which mades it drag more.
The ABBA movie is also problematic, what with the added off-concert story-line combined with their
touring in support of an album that had weak songs.
Isn't the problem that film people use camera motion and editing to produce excitement which overlays
a distraction to viewing in that it forces focus. Another problem is that the contagious excitement of thecrowd cannot make the leap from live to film/vtr. There's also the post-MTV phenomenon of blockingthe stage a la the music video which then makes it impossible to compress back into frame.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Finally (seriously) I found the MTV Unplugged concert very annoying because they didn'tshow the full song and commentary -- they'd cut into the song to show what Bruce said aboutit or fade out half way through his chat when he clearly had more to say or cut into the middleof the tune as if we'd get bored. They even did it on the DVD. Better than many of his concertfilms because it was so unusual but still....
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Gosh I can talk. Anyway, Woodstock is indeed problematic in many ways. You're exactly rightabout bad concert films - they cut and cut and cut to different camera angles because theythink wrongly that it creates energy and excitement when in fact a great performance doesthat on its own and the cutting only distracts. I've seen plenty of concert films like the onesmentioned above (and Flamenco, a great dance/music film) where the energy of theperformance and the crowd is captured to know it can be done. In the revival of The LastWaltz in NYC, the paying audience I saw it with broke into spontaneous applause after eachgreat number. In Cannes, they showed it on the beach and the French people did the same
thing after the stunning version of "The Weight" and then kept it up during the rest of the film.
The staging and spect ratio can be fluid and should be set during a concert being filmed with
the movie in mind, a la Stop Making Sense. It can be done. Most directors are just dumn and
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
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Scorsese should have known better.
DCDan See Profile I'm a Fan of DCDan permalink
Great article, Mr. Giltz.
Seems to bear mentioning -- and brings the discussion full circle -- that one of the
editors of the Woodstock movie was . . . Martin Scorsese! He first cut his teeth infilming music with this project (believe he was one of the cameramen at the festivalas well). Supposedly, one of Scorsese's next projects is a documentary on the life
and music of Bob Marley.
I would disagree with the assertion that Monterey Pop is overrated. It's a taut, well-
paced film that holds up exceptionally well 40 years after its release. I would say,however, that D. A. Pennebaker's other best-known doc is somewhat over-regarded;
that being, Don't Look Back, from Dylan's 1965 UK tour.
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
You have to remember that the movie "Woodstock" is now almost 40 years old and
science and technology have marched way past this movie. When this movie wasoriginally released (somewhere around 1970) the technology used to create the filmwas more state of the art and it was great fun to see the music festival of ageneration documented for all to see. I still like this movie despite itself as there are
too many good memories from that era to dislike it.
Try the DVD of the George Harrison concert "Bangladesh" also from about the same
time frame but somehow done with more loving care and attention paid to the soundquality. The camera angles are less creative and probably more to your likeing.
Many, many, Grateful Dead movies have been made with excruciating detail paid to
the sound quality and visual treats resulting in a superior product.
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Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Danny, it's DEFINITELY poor direction and editing. Springsteen is a magnetic live performerand its almost laughable how poorly he's been served by videos and concert films. On his
compilation DVD of videos and live performances, there's an early performance of
Springsteen singing "The River" where the camera is focused solely on him for virtually the
entire song. (It's a midframe shot I think where you're looking at him fairly dead on. There's a
harsh red stage light behind his head and during the song Springsteen occasionally tilts this
way and that and he's almost completely obscured/hidden by the red light when his head isn't
blocking it from that camera. But there's little cutting during the song, even though this is
"wrong" and the light should be a distraction. Springsteen talks to intro the song (which is
clearly new, the album is just out or maybe coming out) and he's so absorbed in the song thatyou can't take your eyes off him. When he moves a tad and the red light bleeds in, the tensionis great, somehow just emotionally right and then he moves back and you can see him clearlyagain and it's just devastatingly good. I've joked to people I show the clip to that I wouldGLADLY watch that entire concert from the single angle. That's not obvously how I wouldshoot him for an entire show, but I sure as heck wouldn't make 30 cuts during each tune justto maintain "excitement."
Guitarsandmore See Profile I'm a Fan of Guitarsandmore permalink
On stage Springsteen draws himself up into a powerhouse of high volume, highemotion music with an intensity second to none. Off stage and in interviews he hasthis quiet, quiet, shy little voice, kind of like "little boy telling stories and jokes" andthrowing stones into the water on the way to the fishin hole hands in pocket, lookingdown, and shuffling his feet and grinning all the way. He"s like the good natured kidthat sat next to you in high school. What a transformation this guy goes through on
the stage! That"s the thing that always really struck me about Springsteen. Oh, yeah
and his music is pretty good too!
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-scorsese-one-ups-sco_b_116824.html [4/5/2009 1:51:48 PM]
Comments are closed for this entryNunziato See Profile I'm a Fan of Nunziato permalink
I find most concert films boring and unwatchable, simply because, as you said, "a single camera placed
5th row center and just pointed at the stage would do a better job" than most directors. I admit, I loved"Shine A Light" in iMax and found myself cheering in the theatre after songs. This film would never
work on home video. But as wonderful as "The Last Waltz" is, I gave up watching concert films after
one of my favorite bands of all time, released the absolute worst concert film of all time, Led Zeppelin's"The Song Remains the Same." The editing is so horrific, you see Jimmy Page's face during the guitarsolo in "No Quarter," and his fingers during Plant's vocals.
As for the "5th row, single cam" theory, one of the best concerts I have ever seen on DVD, is actually a
bootleg of U2 from Irving Plaza. It was pro-shot from a tri-pod in front of the soundboard, about halfwayback. Your perspective of the entire performance, is the exact perspective you would have had if youhad attended the show. Why is that less exciting to watch? Why aren't more music videos and concertfilms recorded this way?
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
The Zep concert is insanely goofy -- and you didn't even mention the faux Tolkien segments.The U2 bootleg sounds very satisfying and is probably better than most concert films of theirs(though I actually like the film version Rattle and Hum, unlike most people). Certainly that verybasic approach is a good starting point. Imagination and great intimate angles can give youan experience far superior to sitting in that fifth row (we can't usually hover over the drummeror see the byplay between singer and guitarist from the side of the stage), but they should
always be asking WHY are they cutting in the middle of a sentence to a camera placed in the
balcony and then 10 seconds later to a camera swooping in and then a camera behind the
band and then a camera from the back of the auditorium. I'm not caling for a lack of
imagination, but time and again in the best concert films you see the camera find a great
perspective and then stay there until emotionally or musically there's a reason for cuttingaway to another angle. I avoid bootlegs however because there's just so much darn stuff tolisten to officially that bootlegs scare me. Unless it's Sinatra during that Australian tour withRed Norvo, I don't want to be tempted.
jvarga See Profile I'm a Fan of jvarga permalink
Michael did you know that Starship Troopers 3 comes out on DVD tomorrow? I'm sure it will be evenworse than Starship Troopers 2, especially since the commercial for it showed the stunningly bad battle
suit cgi. Undoubtedly I'll go try and buy it tomorrow at best buy, but yeah, I have pretty low
expectations. Somehow Denise Richards' character isn't in it, but Casper Van Diem obviously had
nothing else to do :P
The only concert dvds I have are Pink Floyd's Pulse, and Roger Water's In The Flesh, both of which
were good. Its hard for pink floyd to have a dvd represent the live show, unless your tv room isshooting gigawatt lasers at you and has giant inflatable pigs, so I can see that as being similar toSpringsteen's dvds not representing his showmanship. The Roger Waters concert I saw was pretty lowkey, they even had a couch on stage where he and some of the musicians sat and drank tea whileguitar solos were going on, so it didn't lose much in the transition to my apartment.
Michael Giltz See Profile I'm a Fan of Michael Giltz permalink
Maybe the Roger Waters/Pink Floyd concerts need to be shot in 3-D and will have to wait forthe home stereo media systems that can do them justice. I may be one of the few peoplewho ranks The Final Cut right after Dark Side, though I can't say much for Hitchhiking and hisofficial solo work. Still, the idea of them drinking tea during a guitar solo is hilarious. Whilethose spectacles may be hard to capture (the theatricality might not translate and it's likewatching a videotape of a Broadway musical -- you get the idea but it's not the same). And
yet, that's not the problem with Springsteen -- if the directors and editors would just get out of
the way, he could certainly be captured wonderfully on film. Sadly, I have not been sentStarship Troopers 3 or I would gladly review it (and hopefully any new group shower scenes).
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Michael Giltz: DVDs: Scorsese Falls Short Of Scorsese
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/michael-giltz/dvds-scorsese-one-ups-sco_b_116824.html [4/5/2009 1:51:48 PM]
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