Review: Shine a Light (2008) ****
I fell in love with The Rolling Stones in 1979 when I was 10 years old. My older brothers had exposed me to the band and they also took me to my first Stones concert, the 2nd Seattle date of the Tattoo You tour in 1981. The venue was the equivalent of a giant concrete bomb shelter, a municipal stadium called The Kingdome where the Seahawks and Mariners played. I remember a girl died on the night of the first show. She’d fallen from one of the walkways ringing the outside of the stadium and it added to the sense of danger that always seemed to follow the Stones around back then.
Our seats were on the 2nd level about as far from the massive, cartoon-colored stage as you could get and still be in King County. Mick Jagger was a furiously gyrating figure in lemon colored tights about an inch tall. The sound was terrible, especially from our seats, but I didn’t care. It was the Greatest Rock and Roll Band in the World and I had the time of my young life.
There would be other Rolling Stones shows, better ones, but none more memorable. There was the college road trip to Canada where we bought scalped tickets that turned out to be counterfeit. There was the return trip to Canada, with real tickets this time and a real girlfriend. Then there was the time in 2001 when I saw them here in L.A. It was a free benefit concert and I’d gotten tickets simply by sending in an email and having my name chosen at random. Staples Center was the smallest venue I’d ever seen them play and I decided then and there it would be the last time.
I didn’t know it when it all began for me in 1979, but The Rolling Stones had released their last truly significant album, Some Girls, the year before. They still cranked out big hits, but their relevancy as a force in popular music continued to decline and increasingly they were becoming a Baby Boomer nostalgia act. Each tour that came and went, the band seemed less dangerous than they had before.
With that in mind, I greeted news that Martin Scorsese was making a Rolling Stones concert movie with a mixture of excitement and dread. I would’ve preferred a No Direction Home type documentary, but then again it was Scorsese and he had at his command a small army of some of the finest cinematographers working in the business. If anyone could do it right, it was the man who’d used Stones songs in his films more often than anyone else. If anyone could make me feel 10 years old again, it was Marty and, based on the dumb grin on my face through most of the movie, he pulled it off.
Shine a Light opens to the strains of I Can’t Be Satisfied by Muddy Waters as Mick stresses about the stage and the cameras and Marty worries over the set list. They’re two renowned control freaks butting heads. After that there is some boring business with Bill and Hillary Clinton and assorted hangers-on before Bill finally introduces the band. As soon as Keith Richards rips into the opening licks of Jumpin’ Jack Flash, the entertainment begins in earnest.
Including the opener, the Stones gave a workout to 18 songs plus one more, Shine a Light, which played over the closing credits. The oldest songs were As Tears Go By and Satisfaction from 1965 and, surprisingly, the newest was She Was Hot from way back in 1983. It’s one of their better late-career rockers and it provided one of the show’s several highlights. It’s a little surprising there wasn’t so much as a tip of the hat to their recent output, but it’s hardly disappointing.
Guest star Jack White came out for a nice rendition of Loving Cup and Buddy Guy sizzled on Muddy Waters’ Champagne & Reefer, a song that also gave Mick the chance to show off his solid blues harmonica skills. While Christina Aguilera wasn’t exactly a liability on Live With Me, she was clearly out of her element, singing the song without really feeling it. On the other hand, it’s difficult to ruin that classic tune and besides, her bump and grind with Mick helped restore some of the song’s former nastiness and lewd danger.
Most concert films sag at a certain point, but here the highlights were well spread out and the show’s momentum never flagged for long. The lowest point was a desultory performance of Start Me Up, a popular number that’s been overplayed and one of the few for which the band wasn’t able to conjure up a new spin. Appropriately, the Some Girls album got the biggest workout with four songs, the album’s title song providing the best performance of the night. Meanwhile, Keith had his obligatory turn behind the microphone with a terrific, swamped-up version of You Got the Silver from Let it Bleed. He also sang Connection from Between the Buttons, something of a concert rarity.
Occasionally between songs, Scorsese inserted old interview material with the band that provided a kind of counterpoint, but the focal point was definitely the energetic performance of the band, fluidly captured by the team of cinematographers. The show benefited from the intimate setting of the relatively small Beacon Theater in New York, an intimacy most fans never experience. Cameras get in close in other concert films, but there is an impersonality when a band is playing to 50,000 people or more. Here you not only have front row seats, but the band is playing just for you and for a few hundred of your closest personal friends.
The Stones themselves were full of energy, driving power into even their must frequently played numbers and taking a special delight in the freshly dusted off rarities. They also seemed to be having a great time, the joy of music and performance in every note and every gesture. Even stoic Charlie Watts managed an occasional smile.
What the band may lack in freshness, they make up for with a tightness and a professionalism that comes from playing together and touring for 45 years. They may not be spontaneous and there’s a degree of calculation to the performance, but there’s still a looseness born of complete confidence in their craft and a large sense of fun. The Rolling Stones might not be dangerous anymore, but they’ve learned a thing or two about putting on a show and it’s on full display here.
Your level of enjoyment from Shine a Light will probably be directly proportional to how much you already like the band, particularly their current incarnation. This is not cutting edge rock and roll, but it will prove supremely entertaining for fans, whether they’ve seen the real thing live or not.
If you can see it in IMAX, do so. The giant screen and the stellar sound system lend the movie an appropriate event feeling that might be lost on a smaller screen and most certainly on DVD.
Shine a Light. USA 2008. Directed by Martin Scorsese. Cinematography by Robert Richardson with cameras operated by C. Mitchell Amundsen, Stuart Dryburgh, Robert Elswit, Ellen Kuras, Andew Lesnie, Emmanuel Lubezki, Albert Maysles, Anastas Michos, Declan Quinn and John Toll. Edited by David Tedeschi. Sound mixed by Bob Clearmountain. Starring Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts, Christina Aguilera, Buddy Guy, Jack White and Martin Scorsese. 2 hours 2 minutes. MPAA rated PG-13 for brief strong language, drug references and smoking. 4 stars (out of 5)
Filed under: Reviews
Related Posts: - Friday Filler: Rolling in Cinema
- The Watercooler: 4/7/08
- LiC Shines a Light on The Rolling Stones
- Movies You May Have Missed: 7/29/08
- Sinatra x Scorsese
It was a great show and one of the best concert films I have seen in a while. I loved reading your history bit in the beginning, really cool man.
I’m afraid its looking more and more like I won’t catch this on IMAX, which is a shame, but I hope to see it in the theatre soon. I too have a huge admiration for the Stones, and Scorsese goes without saying.
This is a great review, Craig - one of my favorites of yours. Your personal experience makes it that much more interesting; it’s nice to hear about it from someone who knows more about the Stones than the average person (me).
“Here you not only have front row seats, but the band is playing just for you and for a few hundred of your closest personal friends.”…who happen to be extremely hot and young?
Fantastic review, Craig. I love the personal anecdotes that you include in this and so many of your reviews. It’s great when you share with us the ways in which specific films strike so close to you personally and become special to you.
There was the return trip to Canada, with real tickets this time and a real girlfriend.
Aww. :-)
Am I a bad person if I don’t care about this at all?
Not at all Evan, not at all. {maybe a little} :)
Evan. Absolutely not. I don’t think any sane person would argue that the Stones still really matter in the big picture. It’s a personal thing.
Thanks guys for the kind words. My life is pretty dull, but so much of whether or not a person likes this movie will be wrapped up in their personal attachment (or lack thereof) to the band, so it seemed appropriate to try and explain where I was coming from.
Daniel, you noticed the Ring of Hotties directly around the stage too? I wonder if they were given special passes at the door.
It was little distracting, to say the least. Same with that guy front row at the end of the walkout who was thrusting and air humping. The demographics were not what I expected for a Stones show.
Yeah, the more I think about it maybe the only way to see it is on IMAX so I guess I might just make the pilgrimage one week night and see it.
Excellent review though Craig. I’ve heard these anecdotes before but it’s fun to see them here in this context. It gives the review a refreshing flavor that just a set list and capsule comments on the various songs would surely lack.
The personal background is really the only way to properly review the movie as your love for the Stones and Scorsese also gives the reader the right basis for the review.
Good review CJ, but I swear to Odin’s Goatee I don’t care at all about this film and think of it terms of Ashby’s awful concert film, minus pastels. The only way it could be interesting to me is if Scorcese really focused on their age and road-wear to contrast with the high energy rock blues. Or showed them playing totally obscure songs in bars across the country. Or if they were superheroes ala KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK.
But Christina Aguilera?
“Or if they were superheroes ala KISS MEETS THE PHANTOM OF THE PARK.”
Great idea, Christian. I might pay to see that. I’m guessing Paul Williams is free to co-star.
“Or showed them playing totally obscure songs in bars across the country.”
That would be cool.
Aguilera was better than you would expect - Craig describes it well. I’m one who thinks she really has pipes, but it wasn’t the most natural fit here even though it worked.
I can’t argue with you at all Christian, because I know exactly what you’re saying. If you don’t buy the Stones as nostalgia act, you’re not going to get much out of this movie.
Having said that, it was 1000 times better than the Ashby disaster which I didn’t even much like before I was old enough to know better.
The Aguilera bit was a misstep, though if they had to choose from that crowd of entertainers, she was the best choice and I was expecting a lot worse when I heard about it.
Despite that, they’re not really trying to hide their age. They sort of transcend it. Mick’s face actually looks older than he really is, but he still bops around like a crazy person.
Most importantly to me, they seemed to be having fun. It wasn’t just a paycheck gig.
Like I said though, you pretty much know where you stand and from what you’ve said there isn’t much cause for you to run out and see it. I don’t think you’ll hate it, but it’s probably not essential. Bob Keys still plays a mean sax, but he doesn’t throw a TV out the 10th story hotel window like in Cocksucker Blues.
The best part about IMAX Joel I think was the sound system. The big screen was great, but the sound was most impressive. If you’re going to see it, you might as well see it in IMAX if it’s not too much trouble, but then I didn’t see it on a regular screen so I don’t have much of a frame of reference.
Excellent writing Craig. I love how the review so richly captured your experience of the film. The crackle and spark of rock concert energy, reminiscence and reflection. It was fun to read.
They’ve had a very long late career indeed if a 25 year old song represents one of the better ones from it :-)
“bops around like a crazy person.” I was shocked at how he moved, I would never have expected anything as exuberant at his age, I was helluva impressed.
Word, Nick. Mick is in very good shape.
Alison, didn’t you and Mick once wing on over to London and jam with the Stones?
Yep, that was me. ;-)
Very, very nice, Monsieur Kennedy.
I’m with Nick, Danny, Alison, joel, sartre - and anyone else I may have forgotten - in stating that reminiscing and personal anecdotes add greatly to an all ready sensational review and make it an even more fascinating read with greater depth.
Some of us here (including me) know you fairly well outside of your blogging. But we don’t know EVERYTHING about you. I’m sure that your regular readers (the ones that comment rarely or never) are particularly interested in that stuff as well.
It was an absolute joy to read. Lots of detail and extremely informative. This is certainly one of the best ones I’ve read concerning this film. If anyone out there is sitting on the fence, they definitely won’t be after giving this a look.
I love this band passionately and I’m slowing coming to the unbearable conclusion that I may never get to see them live. (Or, by the time I do, the situation may have changed so drastically that I won’t actually care. Same thing really.)
I had tickets to see Bruce Springsteen and we opted not to go because we found out where we would be sitting after the fact and it was totally unacceptable. (For the record, it was a VERY BIG hall and it was right in the last row of the very last level up in the corner. They didn’t sell any prior to the official release date so it was a total free for all and that was what we ended up with. NO THANKS.)
But She Was Hot is a FABULOUS song. It’s also a great rock video. The late Anita Morris was in that and she definitely personified everything that song is about. For that matter, She’s So Cold is rather awesome as well.
What is it with these guys and temperature…?
Thank you Miranda. For better or for worse I guess one way a blog can be different from, say, the NY Times, is a more personal touch. That’s not to say I want LiC to become some kind of creepy public diary, but if it’s appropriate, personal can be good some times.
I wouldn’t have seen Springsteen either with seats like that. There’s on point. It was different when I was 12 and didn’t know any better.
That creepy public diary concept sounds fascinating :-)
If you’re interested in public diaries, sartre, check out LiveJournal.
:-)
I’m only interested in the tormented inner lives of my friends :-)
I don’t have time for a creepy inner life anymore!
Blogging is a monster.
Remember Ken Rudolph, the Academy member whose website Sasha linked to? You know, the guy who gets to see hundreds of movies for free every year?
He gave this film 4 stars. :-)
Here’s the link to his site: http://kenru.net/movies/2008_all_films.html
His commentary: “Great, intimate concert film; an historical flawless production!”