On August 7th 1974, a young Frenchman named Philippe Petit stepped out on a wire illegally rigged between New York’s twin towers, then the worlds tallest buildings. After nearly an hour dancing on the wire, he was arrested, taken for psychological evaluation, and brought to jail before he was finally released. Following six and a half years of dreaming of the towers,
It’s not the expected thing for a documentary on Turkish music to open with a quote from Confucius, but that is not the only fascinating surprise that “Crossing the Bridge: The Sound of Istanbul” has to offer. The latest film by Fatih Akin, who directed the exceptional “Head-On,” turns out to be a Bosporus-based Buena Vista Social Club with cultural
Scratch is a feature-length film/ DVD that explores the world of the hip-hop DJ. From the birth of hip-hop, when pioneering DJ’s began extending breaks on their party records (which helped inspire break dancing and rap), to the invention of scratching and “beat-juggling” vinyl, to its recent explosion as a musical movement called “turntablism”, it’s a story of unknown
Ever since MTV arrived in our living rooms, there has been an inordinate amount of emphasis on beauty and youth and appearance – none of which enters our consciousness through our ears. Never have so few companies controlled so much of the music played on the radio and for sale at retail stores. At the same time, there are more bands and more ways to discover
The questions start as soon as you know that Young@Heart is about a group of singing senior citizens as they prepare for and then perform a concert with a repertoire consisting of songs by the likes of Coldplay, Sonic Youth, and James Brown. Can this premise, basically a novelty, sustain itself for nearly two hours? Will the director give in to the temptation to make it schmaltzy
Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light” may be the most intimate documentary ever made about a live rock ‘n’ roll concert. Certainly it has the best coverage of the performances onstage. Working with cinematographer Robert Richardson, Scorsese deployed a team of nine other cinematographers, all of them Oscar winners or nominees, to blanket a live September 2006
When the Clash was labeled “The Only Band That Matters,” it may have been record company hype, but when I was a teenager, there was probably no band that mattered more to me. The idealism, the earnest anger, the democratic, sometimes clumsy way of mixing styles and sounds — I am almost as susceptible to it now as I was at 15. This is all by way
Like that of a lasting marriage, the story of a long-established rock band is necessarily laden with drama. The Who, now in their fifth decade, have had their share and more — almost, it seems, from Day One of their existence. Amazing Journey: The Story of the Who takes us through a tale of rich artistic growth, as well as severe internal dissention, ego explosions,
The documentary Show Business: The Road to Broadway journeys behind the scenes of four Broadway productions mounted during the 2003-4 theatrical season that ultimately garnered nominations for Best Musical: Wicked, the Rosie O’Donnell/Boy George collaboration Taboo, Tony Kushner’s Caroline, or Change and the iconoclastic puppet review Avenue
