I just finished skimming through the first 50 minutes of Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light and had to turn it off. Netflix delivered this DVD to my place nearly three months ago and I'm finally sending it back tomorrow morning, incompletely viewed.
Don't get me wrong - the direction was great, the camera work was what I expected, and the interstitial footage was fantastic. But this film is about 80% concert documentary, and I underestimated just how much I'd have to be a Stones fan to actually enjoy footage of the performances. I've never really been a Stones fan, and I remain thus after my partial viewing.
There was one serious problem I had with the concert footage though, too. As a musician and an appreciator of music I was put off by the boosted audio level of any instrument/musician on whom the camera focused. If the Charlie Watts was the main subject of a shot, for example, his drum levels were pumped up in the mix. For my taste this would have ruined the balance of music I love, let alone music I was merely tolerating for the sake of its filming.
Sorry Marty, but this one gets a 2/5 from me.
Don't get me wrong - the direction was great, the camera work was what I expected, and the interstitial footage was fantastic. But this film is about 80% concert documentary, and I underestimated just how much I'd have to be a Stones fan to actually enjoy footage of the performances. I've never really been a Stones fan, and I remain thus after my partial viewing.
There was one serious problem I had with the concert footage though, too. As a musician and an appreciator of music I was put off by the boosted audio level of any instrument/musician on whom the camera focused. If the Charlie Watts was the main subject of a shot, for example, his drum levels were pumped up in the mix. For my taste this would have ruined the balance of music I love, let alone music I was merely tolerating for the sake of its filming.
Sorry Marty, but this one gets a 2/5 from me.