beatmaster101 Reviews

Zappa (2020)

Zappa was different. The documentary is not.

[7/10 · 28 February 2021]

Every biographical documentary has a difficult task to achieve: it has to satisfy both the fans and the non-fans. The hardcore audience and casual listeners. The filmgoers and the documentary fanatics.

Things are even more difficult with the Zappa documentary, directed by Alex Winter. There's one of the most complexing artists of our modern times, both in his life and his works. The way he understood music, he created lyrics and sound textures, records, films, politics, life... was not the American way. He was critical of everything mainstream around him, and he was able to express it in a way that very few really could.

Zappa was different. The documentary is not.

It's a simple approach to his life and work. There's no attempt to get deeper into the motives behind Zappa's works. From the moment we see him growing up in the Californian country up to dying moments, we witness a presentation type of narrative but not an attempt for an explanation.

And it's everywhere in the film: childhood, personality, love life, friends, collaborations, records. So the final result is a rather glossy reflection, which is probably unfair to the man who pushed the limits in radical ways and left a significant mark in modern culture.

It's a great production with lots of film archives - thanks to Zappa himself - and interviews with people who lived and worked with him. But it's like any other good documentary we have already seen. There's nothing extraordinary different about it and that's a shame. Because Zappa was an extraordinary different artist, both in his life and his works, both in his good times and his bad times.

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart (2020)

The Bee Gees have stayed alive

[9/10 · 28 February 2021]

It was finally yesterday night that I was able to watch the HBO documentary about The Bee Gees called after their 1971 hit: «How Can You Mend a Broken Heart». Directed by Academy Award-nominated Frank Marshall, who also co-produced it with multiple-Grammy Award-winning producer Nigel Sinclair, the almost 2-hour film tries its best to present the fascinating story of the brothers who were born at the Isle of Man, before immigrating to Australia in the late 50s and then, returning to the UK to become one of the biggest pop acts of 2nd half of the 60s.

And that's the first half of the film, including the breakup and the reunion that led to more success in the early 70s. For me, that's the most satisfying part of the doc, because it reminds us that Bee Gees was not a disco-oriented act. It was a very important pop group with a string of hits and major worldwide success (including the US) almost a decade before the whole disco saga.

Of course the second part is mainly focused on the 2nd half of the 70s, where Bee Gees with the help of producer Arif Mardin took a turn into the dance scene, which eventually led them to the Saturday Night Fever success, the level of which only a very few artists have managed to reach over the years. I would expect to hear a bit more about it instead of the contrast of that level of success with the anti-disco movement - including a fair share of the events that took place at Chicago's Comiskey Park on July 12th, 1979 - but I sense that by that link, the producers want to explain at the same time the sharp fall after 1979.

Maybe also, the Bee Gees don't want to be remembered as a disco-only band after all, which is quite understandable - they weren't a disco band. But the success was huge and they have left a very strong mark in pop culture because of that, so I would like to see them embracing that part a bit more instead of showing a scene of them from back in the day, trying to defend themselves («we're not a disco band»).

They weren't a disco band, they're one of the biggest pop bands ever. And it's sad to see that the documentary makes a huge jump from the anti-disco thing - and the string of hits the Bee Gees hat in the early 80s with producing other artists such as Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross and Diane Warwick - to the deaths of Maurice, Robin and their youngest brother and teen pop sensation, Andy. No mention of their successful comeback in the 2nd half of the 80s with pop tunes such as You Win Again, Ordinary Lives and One - just a fast forward presentation of the life losses and the respect they've gained as years go by.

I would also like to see a bit more about the dynamics between the brothers, we only get a rather superficial presentation of the personalities, their relationships and the problems that come with them. Still, in the end we see Barry, the only living member, saying that he would switch the success with having back his brothers. I guess that sums it up pretty well.

The Bee Gees are one of the biggest pop acts in the history of music and this is how they should be remembered. This is the main purpose of the film and in that sense, it does a pretty accurate job.

Leaving Neverland (2019)

Is it true about Jackson?

[7/10 · 8 March 2019]

The most disturbing thing about Leaving Neverland is the mothers, pushing their kids to a bizarre lifestyle for their own vanity.

Is it true about Jackson? Maybe, I personally still have doubts. But if he's guilty, his problematic life as a kid can't be used an excuse.

Jackson the musician was amazing. But his legacy will suffer from the for years to come.

The film is simple, lasts a bit too long but services its purpose.

Fyre (2019)

Fyre Festival, a social media scum!

[8/10 · 25 January 2019]

This is exactly the right documentary about the social media age and the so called influencers. How a specific guy took advantage of the whole absurdity in order to make a profit and turned out to be a huge crook, taking full exploitation of the morons who are so into the lifestyle of the 21st century - trying to be social media models (or look like them), playing their own little reality show by living the high life. And at the end you're reminded that there were some hard working people, festival professionals and local Bahamians, that worked really hard to pull this off and ended up losing a lot of money plus part of their own dignity. Strong piece of film.

Love, Gilda (2018)

Not good enough

[6/10 · 27 December 2018]

Based too much on her own autobiography and diaries, without any major insights from the (very few) people who were interviewed. Gilda Radner was indeed a very talented comedian and a very interesting personality and I feel the documentary just touches the surface of that by recycling what we already know about her.

Three Identical Strangers (2018)

Intriguing piece of documentary

[8/10 · 19 December 2018]

A pop sensation ends up a result of a scientific study. Questions about where science reaches his limits, nature vs nurture and what we prefer to see and what not.

The American Meme (2018)

A missed opportunity..

[5/10 · 15 December 2018]

... about fame in the digital era. Morons like Paris Hilton, Kirill, the Fat Jew or Chaled have weak mental abilities in order to describe the phenomenon, no matter how successful they are. It's only Emily Ratajkowski that sounds interesting, but her participation is limited.