...an exhilarating and wholly engrossing event.
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Director Martin Scorsese might better have titled his 2008 concert documentary of The Rolling Stones "The Band That Wouldn't Go Away." Not that anybody would want them to go away, but the Stones have been around for well over forty-five years now, longer than most folks have been alive. They must seem like Jurassic dinosaurs to today's young people, yet their music displays as much or more energy than that of groups a third their age.
Scorsese is no stranger to rock-documentary tributes, his having made the brilliant "Last Waltz" in 1978, which chronicled the farewell appearance of The Band. Now, the director makes an equally accomplished movie with the group that has been around for more years than practically any other music ensemble. I think the Mills Brothers have them beat by a few years, but in time the Stones will probably overtake their record.
Even though I have never been a Stones fan, I have to admit that the combination of the group's showmanship and Scorsese's filming make "Shine a Light" an exhilarating and wholly engrossing event. After about ten or fifteen minutes of mundane prefatory material--the band setting up, the director making final arrangements--the concert presentation begins with no less than Bill Clinton introducing the show. Think about it: The Stones started singing together almost half a dozen years before Scorsese made his first full-length movie and while Clinton was still in high school.
Then, when the preliminaries are over and the Stones launch into their first number, "Jumpin' Jack Flash," the effect is genuinely electrifying. The energy is palpable, and you feel as though you're there, on the spot, front-row center. It's the difference between watching a typical MTV music video and "Raging Bull."
OK, you've got to realize that time has taken a certain toll on the group, but not on their music making. The pressures of age and high living show up in their faces, especially as Scorsese peppers the live, 2006 concert presentation with archival footage of interviews from the early and mid 1960s. Yes, Mick Jagger's face used to look young. But you know what? When you see him still romping, frolicking, and dancing around the stage with the body of teenager, you forget his age. It's all about the music.
The music is mostly rock, with a smattering of country and blues. Among the musicians who perform with the Stones in this concert are Jack White III, Christina Aguilera, and longtime bluesman Buddy Guy, who is the only person in the auditorium who predates the Stones as a star entertainer. Yet it's the Stones who rivet our attention from start to finish. Vocalist Jagger remains the quintessential rock star as he prances to and fro to the adoration of a packed house of mostly young people. Guitarist Keith Richards is forever the pirate who inspired Johnny Depp's Captain Jack. Drummer Charlie Watts continues to look like the group's accountant. And newcomer Ronnie Wood (who joined the group in 1974) has ever the mad gleam in his eye.
Yes, Scorsese keeps the Stones first and foremost in this movie, thanks to the masterly work of him and his staff in capturing the excitement and, more important, the spirit of the event. Scorsese shows his affection for a favorite, iconic rock band, shooting the musical numbers with a maximum of impact, creativity, and imagination, while never making it flashy. We're always aware that it's the Stones and their music that count, not the filmmaker's art, no matter how good it is.
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[release]23975[/release]