Tuesday, October 26, 2010

When You're Strange - 2009

"When You're Strange" - 2009
Dir. by Tom DiCillo - 1 hr. 24 min.

Official Trailer

by Clayton Hollifield

This is a documentary about the short careers of Jim Morrison and the Doors, narrated by Johnny Depp.  The main draw here is some rare archival footage of the subjects.  The great thing about a documentary about a band is that if you're into the band, you know the soundtrack is going to kick ass.  Same thing here, even if the subject matter has been trod before (and kneaded a bit by Oliver Stone), an hour and a half of music that I like is going to go down very easy.

Unfortunately, if you've already seen Oliver Stone's "The Doors," there's not much to this that wasn't really covered.  Seeing as how that movie is nearly 20 years old, it's entirely possible that a lot of people haven't, and being fresh to the material covered in "When You're Strange" would certainly improve your viewing experience.

One funny note - late in the Doors' run, they play a concert at the Isle of Wight in England.  Depp talks about how the "people" felt that the show should be free (and gatecrashed for that reason), contrary to the what the concert organizers thought.  It's proof positive that it's not just the current generation that was trying to steal music - the Boomers were ripping off musicians years before many of us were born!

3 / 5 - Streaming

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