I'm Your Man DVD review

[Waiting For Suzanne]

a must buy! i was looking faward to seeing it at the cinma in the summer...such event never happened!

ive got HOW LC CHANGED MY LIFE (or some title like that) on video which i taped of bbc last year. that was a good programme, i watched it again only the other night

[lizzytysh]

Welcome to the Forum, Waiting For Suzanne ~

Are you saying "I'm Your Man" is a must-buy on principle, or because you've finally actually seen it? I was wanting to see it on the big screen and surround sound of the cinema, too... my preference ~ always ~ for initially seeing films I believe I'll like... then, later, I can re-experience those initial emotions when I see it on video.

If you have already seen it, what are some of your specific comments?

~ Lizzy

[Waiting For Suzanne]

no i havent seen it yet, ill have to save my pennies. i dont think its out in the uk yet.

[DBCohen]

Well, I’ve bought it, and I’ve watched it, and I didn’t like most of it, but I wouldn’t do without it, naturally.

I agree with Laurie and others, and think there was here an unnecessary attempt to make an “artsy” film, rather than keep it straightforward. The red spots and other visual and acoustic effects were awful. I hated the extreme close-ups that show the veins in LC’s face and the fillings in the singers’ teeth. Why shove the camera up people’s noses, for crying out loud? I caught myself all the time pulling back, hoping for the camera to pull back with me and allow a wider view of the scene, but in vain.

As for the performances: basically I don’t like covers to LC songs and prefer the originals, with the exception of Jennifer Waren’s covers, which I mostly like, and perhaps also the early Judy Collins ones. In principle it’s good that younger singers are adopting his songs and spreading them around, but still, most of the singing wasn’t to my taste (and judging by the many responses I’ve read, it is a matter of taste basically). The musical arrangements were often very good, but some of the adaptations were quite strange. Why take “Tonight Will Be Fine”, one of LC’s most playful songs, and give it such a somber adaptation, with a break after each line rather than let the melody flow? That’s a shame, especially since Teddy Thompson has a really good voice. A few performances I did like, especially Nick Cave doing both “I’m Your Man” and “Suzanne”, together with Perla and Julie, with a really great delivery (although hearing the familiar words sung in his Australian accent was a little strange too).

The best parts, of course, were the short pieces of interview with LC, who never fails to give a wise, humorous response to any question asked. I don’t know, though, why he had to read out his preface to the Chinese translation of BL, rather than a poem or two. I actually loved the moment when his memory fails him and he can’t come up with a word, smiling, embarrassed or bewildered, until it comes back to him (and in one of the film’s few nice touches, this was followed by “I Can’t Forget” delivered very nicely by Jarvis Cocker). For this and a few other moments I’m glad to have this DVD (as I would love to have anything else he is in).

Seeing him on stage with U2 was an emotional moment for me, noticing how gracefully he’d aged, thinking of the time long ago, when he was young and I was very young, and feeling grateful for the fact that he’d stayed productive, true to himself and his fans, a great master as always. However, the sad part of it was realizing that his voice is almost totally gone. This may sound like heresy, but I now think touring is not such a good idea after all.

So on the whole it’s a great shame that this film is not as good as it could have been, especially considering that films about LC don’t come out every year, but only about once a decade. I would have loved it if someone could collect the materials from previous films and interviews, and edit them in a sensible way without all those unnecessary tricks imposed on this film. That would really be a great one to have.

[LaurieAK]

Hi DBCohen~

Appreciate what you have written here.

I think in the big scheme of things, part of the problem with the project was that initially (if I am remembering this correctly) it was going to be a film that covered Hal Wilner's tour...somewhere after this was set in motion, Leonard was convinced my Lian to be a part of it. So I don't think there was a comprehensive, well thought out plan, but a situation of opportunity knocking and quilting this together. I'm sure someone will correct me if I am remembering this wrong.

Leonard dearly needs a bio-pic made that focuses on him and his body of work. Period.

Like you, despite my great disappointment, I am glad to have it...badly done songs, weird film techniques and all.

regards,
Laurie in Alaska

[Steven]

Hi All,

I rented this film and kept it through most of the "grace period" watching
it many times. I liked some of the musical performances very much;
others not so. That there was an obvious display of respect for
Leonard among the artists, who put themselves on a backburner,
I thought, as they tried their best to let Leonard's work take
the forefront, via their interpretations/performances, was a
true tribute.

I was disappointed that the "bonus" interview with Leonard
was so brief; I felt cheated in that content and context that
obviously could have been there was, inexplicably, not there.
Why was only a crumb/snippet of what could have been a
substantive interview included? I've no idea, but was annoyed
enough by this to have returned and not purchased the DVD.

Rufus Wainwright's performances were highpoints for me.

[YankovicGretzky]

I'm very disappointed that the I'm Your Man trailer that we've been watching on the internet prior to the film's release in theatres wasn't included on the DVD as a special feature. What a waste. But the film was excellent!

[secretchord]

well I saw the film in the cinema this week and this seems as good a place as any to share my response


unfortunately I was very disappointed and I agree with some of the comments made by others: first off the film falls badly between two stools - it's just not very well made and doesn't work as bio-pic or a concert film. The camera work on Leonard is awful, the close-up technique is very frustrating and intrusive and the somewhat random biographical clips only serve to whet the appetite without giving much real information or detail.

However my main disappointment was the performances which I thought varied from appalling to 'okay but unnecessary'. I can find very little merit in any of them, the least offensive being Teddy Thompson who I thought did a reasonably understated job of 'Tonight Will Be Fine'. Somebody further up the thread said the performers put themselves on the backburner but I couldn't disagree more. They seemed universally to miss the point of the songs and subjected them to some sort of 'interpretation' that usually entailed trying to inject some misplaced emotionality into the material that merely resulted in an overblown and histrionic mangling most evidenced by Antony Hegarty who I found intensely irritating and unconvincing. Even Beth Orton, who I've admired in the past, seemed to feel obliged to 'add' something that she must have felt was missing. As for Nick Cave, he seems to have become a parody of himself and I found his voice empty and false and why oh why did so many of them have to read the lyrics as they were singing? could they not even be bothered to learn the words? The arrangements were equally cumbersome and unsympathetic and the whole thing for me was thrown into relief by Leonard's performance of Tower of Song (ignoring if possible U2's leaden and obsequious presence). He sings with such an absence of ego - now if you're talking about someone putting themselves on the backburner there it is in spades. Leonard gets out of the way, the rest of them get in the way.

sorry but that's my view


I would much rather watch a conventional bio-documentary about Leonard interspersed with footage of him in performance but maybe that's just a dream.

[DBCohen]

In my earlier posting I said that liking/disliking the various performances is a matter of taste, and it was nice to see how true this is in your posting, secretcord, with your favorite the one performance I specifically mentioned as the one I didn’t like, and my favorite – the one you least liked… But we both agree that the original is the best, anyway. I also wanted to mention the fact that many of the singers had to read the lyrics during their performance: very irritating. And I very much identify with your last sentence; if only it wasn’t a dream…

[John K.]

post deleted

[LaurieAK]

secretchord~

Don't be sorry. The handful of us who were disappointed with the film all pretty much agree on the reasons why (too campy, weird camera work, not enough LEONARD, etc...) We do disagree on which were the best or worse of the performances, like DBCohen says. I thought that Antony's performance of "If It Be Your Will" was the most outstanding piece on the film...I think maybe part of that is I am drawn to him as a performer, period. I thought he was mesmerizing to watch and listen to and suspect I'd feel the same way about anything he sang.

Laurie

[dick]

Antony fans may appreciate hearing that he again wowed the audience at Carnegie Hall during the Wainwright Christmas show. As Rufus noted in his introduction, he really "channels Elvis" in his performance of Blue Christmas.

[LaurieAK]

Thanks for the insight, Dick. I can't picture him channeling Elvis, but that's just my limited imagination. I'd love to see him at Carnegie Hall. That place has such a great ambiance.

Laurie
(I did finally get around to downloading some Antony from iTunes...let's see if I like him so much when he's not singing Leonard...)

[Cohendrix]

I liked the documentary, for many of the reasons people have cited as disappointments. I already know enough about Cohen. I didn't need him to recapitulate a bunch of stuff I've already heard (and which is available through archives, books, clippings etc.) anyway. I did find Teddy Thompson's performances to be the weak link among the bunch but he in no way shamed the movie with his presence.

Cohen may have moved into the last decade of his life now (I hope not, but let's be realistic, he'll be 73 in September 2007). Passing his songs down to other performers who respect him seems the right approach to take. Bono's over-singing does harm the "Tower of Song" performance (Is he kidding with his pained "oh's" after his verse? He needs to read "How to Speak Poetry," I think) but I think Cohen would have been an idiot not to agree to be backed by the biggest rock band in the world, even though they may or may not be his cup of tea. U2 are stadium performers--they lack the intimacy of Cohen and come across badly as a result. So what? There are loads of people who will see the movie because of U2's presence in it. And many of those people will disagree with me that U2 come across badly. Regardless, Cohen will benefit. U2 are using the performance of the song as the "Bside" of their new single. Hopefully this will get some good dough to the man. He needs it.

Cohen has always been a savvy self-promoter. His understated presence in "Tower of Song" makes him appear even bigger, in comparison. Cohen knows what he wants and how to get it. He's carrying on a tradition, the tradition of Leonard Cohen song, and the tradition of survival as an artist in a world hostile to artists. Raise a glass to him. Happy New Year.

[DBCohen]

Cohendrix (that's a great username!),

What you say makes a lot of sense, and you’ve also put it quite nicely. I admit that for me a “Leonard Cohen song” is a song sung by Leonard Cohen, but as you say, we’ll have to get used to a different reality, and the fact that his songs are being introduced to larger audiences by the new covers should be praised. There is no sense in telling them “where have you been all those years?”. Still, it’s hard to give up a certain feeling of uniqueness that some of us have shared for so many years.