Scorsese shines intimate light on Stones
In "Shine a Light," Martin Scorsese captures one of rock 'n' roll's transcendent experiences -- the Rolling Stones onstage. And he does it with such ferocious intimacy that he and the World's Greatest Rock 'n Roll Band left me begging for more.
You may hear some tired quibbles from jaded carpers that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts and Ron Wood (in their 60s) are too old and wrinkled, that we've heard these songs before, that Scorsese and the Stones should have hooked up instead in their 1970s primes and made, say, "Exile on Main Streets" together.
Ignore them.
Shot at a couple of concerts at New York City's Beacon Theater -- a baroque little venue and a far cry from the gigantic ballparks and mammoth stadiums where the Stones usually cut up -- this is a great rock 'n' roll movie. Terrifically played and sung, beautifully shot and edited, it's one to set beside The Beatles' "A Hard Day's Night," "Woodstock," The Stones' "Gimme Shelter," Scorsese's "The Last Waltz," "Stop Making Sense" and very, very few others.
"Shine a Light" gives you the Stones' high-energy super-seductive front man Jagger; cheerfully dissolute guitar genius Richards; virtuoso string cohort Ronnie Wood; stoic-faced, infallibly on-the-beat drummer Charlie Watts; and their fantastic backup musicians -- up close, with the cameras gliding just a foot or so away from Jagger's erotic gyrations and Richards' wan weary face.
They're playing mostly what we want to hear, with a few surprises -- "Connection" and "Live With Me" -- a typical set list of Jagger-Richards tunes, plus a few covers from the likes of Muddy Waters ("Champagne and Reefer").
Not even Boomers Bill and Hilary Clinton, who show up (with Bill acting as emcee) can upstage these guys. Scorsese personalizes the Stones, in much the same way he handled The Band and their all-star guests in the great farewell concert of "The Last Waltz" -- bathing them in warm, vibrant colors, using telling close-ups and medium shots. Thanks to director of photography Robert Richardson and a king's row of cinematographers (including Albert Maysles, co-director of "Gimme Shelter"), the cameras catch both roaring ensembles and tiny gestures, like Mick patting Wood's back or clasping Richards' shoulder as they sing a chorus.
In a way, this is a very gutsy movie. Abandoning Jagger's sure-fire original notion of filming a huge outdoor concert at Rio de Janiero before vast crowds, and instead shooting the aging Stones so close, while juxtaposing archive footage of the younger Stones from years ago, Scorsese lays them all open to ageist clichés -- an ironic exposure that reaches a peak when Jagger, his face lined but his eyes sharp, sings "As Tears Go By," a mournful early Stones ballad on watching children play, while feeling old.
Scorsese even makes fun of himself; his fussbudget nervousness in the pre-concert scenes ("Where's the set list?") reminds you a little of Victor Spinetti's fey TV director in "Hard Day's Night."
The Stones can still rip the top off bawdy ballads like "Start Me Up" and "She Was Hot." But now, as with the older bluesmen of a generation ago, craft and artistry trump raunchiness. It's amazing how they can still play so hard, give so much, work so well with guests from Buddy Guy to Christine Aguilera.
At the end, with a bit of puckish Scorsese virtuosity, the camera follows Jagger backstage and out into the crowded street, rising above nighttime Manhattan to the skyline and the moon, which promptly turns into the Stones' famous hanging-tongue logo. For a moment, we feel that the whole city is bathed in the shining light from that Beacon Theater stage. And maybe it is. Rock on.
"Shine a Light"
4 stars
Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Ron Woods
Directed by: Martin Scorsese
Other: A 20th Century Fox release. Rated PG-13 for brief strong language, drug references and smoking, 122 minutes.