dream a life

patti smith - legendary and iconic american rock musician
i can name one album but couldn't name more than 1 or 2 of her tunes
another artist from the late 70's that i never really got into
largely based on lack of effort rather than lack of interest
she's back on the stage now at the behest of robert zimmerman
this film apparantly has been 10 years in the making
being part of a film festival made it a easy choice on the list
i had read and seen nothing about it prior to this viewing
expectations down to a bunch of old and new concert footage
the film opens with a voiceover from the lady herself
talking us through a list of men in her life that have died
including significantly husband and father of her 2 children
intentionally or not these deaths invoke an empathy with the lady
even more so as she takes up more and more screen time
allowing her sweet down-to-earth personality to be exposed
what is particularly striking with the film is the amount of material
there seems to be any amount of archive footage of the early days
most of the film is grainy black-and-white videocam (?) footage
later scenes and footage also presented in a similar style
so presumably a deliberate intention to make for continuity
35 years of her life is presented in no particular sequence
though a sense of building to a current day climax is always there
the other most impressive aspect of the film is a level of restraint
concert footage is quite minimal and is not strongly featured
in several scenes classical or electronic music plays over the scenes
which then magnifies the strength of the other actual concert footage
the impression being that the film is more about her as a person
so there is a lot of footage featuring her son and daughter
she also takes the camera into the house of her upbringing
a not insignificant amount of screen time spent with her parents
again gently reinforcing the impression that patti smith has a large heart
but she has also lived a unique and indulgent life which is also exposed
patti smith is as much a poet as a singer/guitarist/performer
in one memorable scene she is seen reciting an alan ginsberg poem
live on stage at the poets funeral with philip glass on piano
mr glass being the first of a large number of famous admirers
bob dylan, michael stipe, thom yorke, bono, flea all seen in the film
but most impressively without fanfare and often quite incidentally
though naturally again confirming her place in the musical world
she also uses her fame well - leading a public call for the indictment of g w bush
confidently and convincingly quoting the american constitution
i must admit i had always thought she was a dark almost dour person
but she laughs a good laugh and that also comes to the fore often
most memorably on a beach with flea swapping hilarious toilet stories
as the film headed to it's conclusion i knew i had seen a great film
a piece of art and also very educational and ultimately entertaining
as the credits rolled it occurred to me what the film was about
not so much a homage to an iconic musician from a past time
but more as that musicians homage to her own mentors
and so in that sense explaining her own belief system
one of the best music documentaries i have seen
better get the horses cd i reckon