"Shine A Light" ** 1\2 (out of ****)It's not often I'll say a Martin Scorsese movie should be avoided, but, I suppose there is a first time for everything.
I really can't blame Scorsese for my inability to enjoy his latest documentary. This is not one of the great Scorsese works. His feature films rank among the best of them. "Taxi Driver", "Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore", "GoodFellas" and "Raging Bull". But I've never seen any of Scorsese's documentaries. One of his most famous is probably another rock concert he filmmed, "The Last Waltz" back in 1978. It was the last concert given by "The Band".
"Shine A Light" follows the Rolling Stones, as they give a concert at the Beacon Theatre, as part of a fundraiser being hosted by former President Clinton, who makes an appearance and even opens for the Stones.
My father is a musician. He plays mostly Hungarian folkmusic but also music from our neighboring countries including; Romania, Slovak Republic, Serbia, Bulgaria and Russia. He looked down upon modern mainstream music. So growing up I wasn't really allowed to listen to rock n' roll or hip hop. It wasn't accepted in my family. So, while most people celebrated The Beatles or Elvis Presley, in my family, we laughed at these people. We didn't consider them good musicians. The Rolling Stones also fell into that group.
So going into "Shine A Light" I didn't know much about the Stones. I have heard their song, "I Can't Get No Satisfaction" but that is about it. I eventually decided to watch this because as 2008 comes to a close, I can't think of ten titles to put on my year end "best" list. I've seen pretty much all the movies I wanted to see this year but because it has been one of the worst years for movies in a long time I have no list. Since I'm desperate, I'm starting to go back and look at titles I at first dismissed. So, I thought I'd give "Shine A Light" a chance. I watched this not because I am a Stones fan, clearly I am not, but out of respect for Mr. Scorsese, one of my favorite directors.
As "Shine A Light" started, I must admit, I became pretty interested in it. We see how the Stones prepare for a concert, by doing as little work as possible and how Scorsese is about to lose his mind trying to figure out how to shoot this. Scorsese keeps asking for a list of the songs to be performed so he can figure out camera angles. The Stones, of course, don't really understand what exactly Scorsese is doing and all the preparation needed to go into making this documentary. They never give him the list of songs!
This is all pretty funny. It's funny the way Scorsese is trying his hardest to keep his cool as you can clearly see he is under a tremendous amount of stress compared to the Stones, who seem as cool as a cucumber.
These "backstage" moments take up about the first 20 minutes or so of the documentary, the entire concert runs two hours, after which we see the Stones on stage perform.
Now of course it wouldn't be fair if I didn't admit, clearly I am the wrong audience for this documentary. I am not a Stones' fan, I don't know their music. But "Shine A Light" does try to give the audience the feeling of what it would be like to actually be at a Stones' concert. The camera is right up there following Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, getting extreme close-ups and multiple angles. Fans of the Stones, who may actually know these songs, will be greatly impressed. There will be much more excitement on their part as they watch this. Also in the spirit of fairness, I have given this the highest star rating I could give it, without actually recommending it, because I realize fans will react differently than I.
Because this is essentially a concert on film I'm tempted not just to offer a review of it as strictly a movie but also a music review. I'll tell you why I don't think the Rolling Stones are a good band. First of all Richards and the other guitarist, Ron Wood, play like children. They don't know how to solo. Their ideas are bland. When various guest make appearances on stage, ranging from Blues legend, Buddy Guy (who sings a crazy song about smoking dope) to Christina Aguilera, they outperform them. Aguilera has a much wider vocal range than Jagger, who doesn't have much of a range to begin with. Richards sings a few songs while Jagger takes a break. He sings completely off key! Jagger is a little better, but, that's not much of a compliment, since the other guy doesn't sing in key.
Scorsese, in between songs, inserts old clips of the Stones in interviews. This is interesting, especially for those of us who are not familiar with the band. The problem is, it doesn't give us all the information. Clips are shown where Jagger is released from prison. But it never explains why he and Richards went to jail in the first place. I have a hunch it had something to do with drugs, but it is never clearly stated. Also, what year did this happen?
Maybe "Shine A Light" could have used more of these old clips. They help create a nice contrast to what we are seeing during their concert and as I said, helps give viewers a little more information and background knowledge about them.
Is "Shine A Light" a complete waste of time? Not really. I didn't get much fun out of it, but there is a reason why. If you are a Stones fan I could see why you would like this. It is well worth watching if you like rock n' roll. Sadly I don't. Too bad for Scorsese and the Rolling Stones.
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