PRINTReel the music
These movies hit all the right notes
February 21, 2008 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Venture into Ragtag Cinema this month, and you have a chance to see Bob Dylan and Joe Strummer. Sadly, Ian Curtis has left the building.
Control, I’m Not There and Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten — musical biopics in one way or another — have come to Columbia within a month of one another. But more important than their recent arrivals is each film’s focus on the musician as a cultural symbol.
Despite all this discussion of musician-oriented films, one type hasn’t had its time in the spotlight: the concert film. If the lack of IMAX theaters makes seeing U2 3D an impossibility, try these famous precursors.
Stop Making Sense:
The moment David Byrne walks out on stage with a tape player, you know you’re watching something special.
Selling point: Byrne dons a white suit three times too big for him.
The Last Waltz:
Accompanied by Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton, The Band performs in one final concert.
Selling point:
A great band goes out on top, playing with some of the greats of the ‘60s
and ‘70s.
Gimme Shelter:
Scorsese just debuted his Stones documentary Shine a Light in Berlin, but before that, there was this iconic film.
Selling point:
Proof that the Stones weren’t always in need of geriatric care.
Although each picture is of a different genre (a traditional biopic, an avant-garde feature film and a nonfiction documentary), all strive to illuminate a figure in the pop culture imagination.
BIOPIC BLOWOUT
Ragtag kicked off the year with director Anton Corbijn’s Control, about Joy Division frontman Ian Curtis. Although it’s an independent film, Control embraces the standard format of the traditional biopic.
Corbijn’s previous experience as a director of more than 75 music videos, including works with Depeche Mode and U2, makes him well qualified to translate music visually. The film focuses on several Joy Division performances as well as Curtis’ spastic dancing. Other movies celebrating Joy Division, such as 24 Hour Party People, might soon be forgotten.
Control’s release happens in the wake of some successful mainstream biopics. Ray and Walk the Line together grossed nearly $200 million domestically and earned 11 Oscar nominations. More recently, the biography of French singer Edith Piaf, La Vie en Rose, earned three Oscar nominations. These films’ conventions have become so well-known, it’s resulted in the creation of parodies such as Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, which pokes fun at the biopic’s hallmarks.
FACT OR FICTION?
Whereas Control had a narrower audience, Ragtag employee Steve Ruffin thinks I’m Not There will appeal to a somewhat different demographic. “It’s Bob Dylan,” he says, “so it’s going to be across the board.”
Premiering at Ragtag’s new location on Feb. 21, I’m Not There stars several actors as different versions of Dylan. Cate Blanchett, Christian Bale and the recently departed Heath Ledger all take on personas of the cult figure as director Todd Haynes explores the fluidity of identity.
Documentary filmmaker Joe Angio, who is currently directing a documentary on a British 1970s punk band called the Mekons, sees a distinction between mainstream biographies and such independent takes.
“Ray (Charles) and Johnny Cash are kind of easy sells: big legendary figures who had kind of tragic lives,” Angio says. “Those are Hollywood-style, Behind the Music and sort of formulaic. This is kind of the beauty of I’m Not There as a biopic; it just shattered all the rules.”
Haynes’ previous works, such as the Bowie-inspired Velvet Goldmine, similarly looked at musicians while marching to the beat of their own drums. An early short, Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story, starred a Barbie doll that Haynes whittled down as its protagonist’s anorexia took hold of her life.
STRUM AND STRUMMER
Premiering at Ragtag the same day as I’m Not There, director Julien Temple’s Joe Strummer: The Future Is Unwritten compiles home movies and archive footage to create an intimate look at Strummer as both a musician and man. Sponsored by KBXR/102.3 FM, its final showing features host Simon Rose speaking about two soundbites from his 1999 interview with Strummer that appear in the movie.
The Future Is Unwritten represents the second Strummer documentary in four years. Let’s Rock Again!, which was produced by Strummer himself, appeared in 2004 and focused upon his later years with his last band, The Mescaleros. Strummer isn’t alone, though; Martin Scorsese directed the 2005 Dylan documentary No Direction Home, and this year’s True/False will feature a new Joy Division documentary.
Angio says the lowered cost of filmmaking is the reason for these documentaries’ sudden ubiquity. “Almost anyone can make a film now,” he says. “I think you’re just seeing a lot of these films reflecting people’s personal interests, and people are always interested in music.”
— Ameena Mohammad
Thanks for this accomplished piece of film writing, Ameena. I have seen I'M NOT THERE and it is a very funny somewhat dizzying movie and the soundtrack, which includes both Dylan covers and originals, is a thrill.
A couple of additional notes Ragtag's new location is 10 Hitt St. It looks to me from their website that they won't be opening until Saturday February 23rd. Vox readers can track when Ragtag opens and showtimes for their movies at www.ragtagfilm.com
Posted by Jai Amrod on Feb 21, 2008 at 7:36 a.m. (Report Comment)