Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man
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Actor: Bono, Hal Willner, Leonard Cohen, Rennie Sparks, Rufus WainwrightBrand: COHEN,LEONARD
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: Dutch (Unknown); English (Subtitled); Spanish (Subtitled); English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: 1.78:1
Running Time: 105 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2006-11-14
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Studio: Lions Gate
DVD Reviews of Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man
DVD Review: So far a total miss
Summary: 2 Stars
I have not even finished viewing this DVD and started this review in the heat of outrage, so this gives you some idea that I am not pleased with this presentation of Leonard Cohen's music. There is nothing more irritating than a hagiography about a songwriter which begins with and continues the ultimate error of constantly interrupting MUSIC, which is the reason we presumably find the subject interesting in the first place, with narrative about how great the art and the artist are. This is disrespectful to everyone concerned: the audience who settles down with the very first song (Nick Cave singing title song "I'm Your Man") and finds that they are suddenly listening to Hal Willner, a great producer, but he is not Nick Cave singing "I'm Your Man;" the creative artist, whose works are not being presented as he or she intended; and the performers themselves. This is especially egregious since these are not studio contrivances but live performances (although I have not finished the whole thing yet). I have performed music and anyone who has knows the wrench of disappointment when the music is being drowned out by a loud drunken party, well this is the video equivalent of that, and there is no excuse for it, since the problems of live music making are out of the performer's control, but certainly not out of the control of a director and editor who could have presented the music as performed. I expect this kind of thing with manufactured "We are the World" events, where the music is in no way the point of interest, but not with someone as respected as Leonard Cohen.
Despite (or with some people, because of) his view of life as a turgid punishment for some unnamed sin, much of his body of work is especially amenable to performance by other artists. There are some wonderful performers here, the biggest treat for me being Linda & Teddy Thompson. But there are some dreadful performances, including a misreading by Rufus Wainwright of "Everybody Knows" (and these are readings in every sense, because almost none of these people seems to have bothered to learn his lyrics and they are reading them) and a seriously talent-challenged person called Antony is a real low point. Cohen does not write pop cliches, so his lyrics must be presented clearly, as Teddy Thompson does; there is little room for the typical vocal stylization that allows the listener to predict a word at the end of phrases that a performer completely obliterates through baroque cadences. Mannerisms do not work with this music but nearly every performer here is laden with them.
The opinions of U2, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright , etc and even Cohen himself are of far less value than the music which we are trying to appreciate but cannot because of the constant interruptions. Rather than interviewing the performers, whose opinions are somewhat predictable, I would have rather have heard from Ron Sexsmith, Gordon Lightfoot or Joni Mitchell on the subject of Leonard Cohen. I cannot fault this film for not having these but I can for boring us with the opinions of some of these performers, who despite their enthusiasms, are so young in the business compared to Cohen that I frankly don't care about their opinions. Taking a year to write a song is impressive to Bono, but this is not James Joyce's Ulysses we are talking about, it is still popular music, no matter how many dreary dissertations have been spawned by appreciation of Cohen's muse.
I can put up with the limitations of Randy Newman, Richard Thompson and Tom Waits as singers, because of their wonderful material and musicianship. But when the material is shaped by limitations, even the best performers cannot overcome this, and Cohen as a performer (abysmal) and composer (boring, predictable progressions) has always put me off, the lyrics are occasionally so depressing that I almost never listen to him performing his own stuff. Like a previous reviewer, I too would rather hear Judy Collins or Jennifer Warnes than most of these people, but there are dozens of fairly recent tribute CDs to Cohen, such as "Tower of Song," which present this material done by both old hands and some quite young ones. The listener can pick and choose and hit the Next Track button at any time the doldrums set in. Audiences are better served by these than this DVD. If I want music censored I will do it myself, but to have an editor do this from very beginning is a colossal assumption of superiority toward the audience that I for one resent. I am not sure where the ultimate responsibility lies, but with such great precedents as "Woman of Heart and Mind" "The Last Waltz," and the recent "Hearts of Gold," how did the idea of presenting the music of a great Canadian artist fall into the hands of someone with no idea of how to do it?
Description of Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man
A portrait of Canadian singer-songwriter and poet, Leonard Cohen, interspersed with performances of his music by various artists, including Nick Cave, U2, Rufus Wainwright, and Beth Orton.Genre: Documentary
Rating: NR
Release Date: 7-AUG-2007
Media Type: DVD
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