Theatrical Review of Shine a Light

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While watching "Shine a Light," I kept wondering why Scorsese kept using the slow-motion camera on Keith Richards but nobody else. Eventually I realized that´s just the way Keith moves these days.

As Martin Scorsese´s feature films become so increasingly banal they are now finally Oscar-worthy, fans can at least take solace in the director´s documentary output. Viewers and critics have lavished the lion´s share of attention on Scorsese´s fiction films, but fully half of Scorsese´s 1970s output was in the non-fiction realm. After focusing exclusively on features throughout the 80s and early 90s (except for "Made in Milan"), Scorsese returned to his documentary with the sprawling television documentary "A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese Through American Movies" (1995). Since then, he has shuttled back and forth between the two modes; 2005´s "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" was his most recent documentary success.

"Shine a Light" is Scorsese´s third solo music documentary, and his second concert film, arriving thirty years after his famous "The Last Waltz" (1978) which recorded The Band´s final stage performance. When The Band packed it in, the Rolling Stones had already been performing for a decade and a half. Thirty years later, they´re still selling out venues world-wide; seemingly each tour for the past 25 years has been rumored to be the last one, but nobody told Mick and the boys.

The film catches up with the veteran rockers on their "A Bigger Bang Tour," with a two-day benefit performance at the Beacon Theater in New York in 2006. Scorsese presents himself as a harried master of ceremonies, desperately scrambling to secure the band´s set list so he can plan his camera work. Scorsese takes a back seat to celebrity though, when Bill Clinton (whose charity the band is playing for) shows up to accept his 60th birthday present: the opportunity to open for the Stones.

Scorsese claims a good deal of the early screen time, but exits stage right once the concert kicks off with a relatively uninspired performance of "Jumping Jack Flash." The performance appears to be heading for choppy waters when Mick croons a shockingly tepid rendition of "Shattered," my personal favorite Stones´ song. But just as Scorsese only needed a little time to get his act together, the Stones need just a few songs to get warmed up. Mick´s cover of The Temptations´ "Just My Imagination" sees him in peak form. The real show-stopper, however, is a performance of "Champagne and Reefer" which features a searing guest appearance by Buddy Guy (no youngster himself) who goes toe-to-toe with both Mick and Keith and threatens to blow everyone off stage.

Buddy Guy´s appearance is the stuff of legends, but Jack White proves himself more than worthy of sharing center stage with Mick. And, much to the surprise of this humble critic, Christina Aguilera proves she can really belt out a tune, while Mick wisely takes the opportunity to turn their duet into a full-on grope fest.

Scorsese intersperses older interviews with the Stones in which various band members are asked how long they expect to play. A very young Mick notes that the band has been playing for two years already, so there´s no reason they can´t last at least one more. The archival footage is interesting but serves little purpose in the film´s structure except to provide easy transitions between songs; consider each the intermezzo designed to cleanse the palette in between numbers.

Mick is the star, and his lithe body has lost none of its suppleness over the years. Still, it´s Keith, wearing his "Pirates of the Caribbean" pin, who the camera loves most, particularly when he takes the mike to work the crowd: "It´s good to see you all. Of course, it´s good to see anybody." Ronnie Wood has always played second guitar to Keith in terms of public recognition, but the film gives him ample time to show up his ability to shred with the best of them. Charlie Watts, like any good drummer, mostly fades into the background; when given the mike at one point all he has to say is "Hello."

I did not see "Shine a Light" in an IMAX theater, but even in a "regular" theater, the sexy and sexagenarian Stones can rock the house. Only a delusional fan could claim that their output of the last three decades matched the quality of their 60s and 70s peak, but as live performers, they´re still one of the best acts around. It´s striking, however, to see the differences between this concert and the 1969 Altamont Concert shown in the Maysles´ brothers "Gimme Shelter" (1970). It´s not the Stones who have changed (Mick´s energy level has not diminished one iota0 as much as their fans. The crowd at Altamont was famously out-of-control even by the Stones´ standards of the time, but the very white and probably very-rich crowd at the Beacon in 2006 is so tame it´s almost an embarrassment to rock ´n rollers everywhere. The group that was one of the most controversial of its day now provides a safe night out for aging Boomers. Personally, I wouldn´t have minded seeing the Hell´s Angels set loose on the Beacon crowd, but maybe we can save that for the Stones´ next tour, or the one after that, or the one after that.

There are now enough Rolling Stones' films to fill an entire shelf in any DVD collection. "Shine A Light" isn't on par with "Gimme Shelter" nor is it as compelling as Jean-Luc Godard's idiosyncratic "One Plus One" (AKA "Sympathy for the Devil" in a slightly different form). But the film showcases both the Rolling Stones and Martin Scorsese in fine form. Don't expect any back-stage melodrama here; just straight-up concert footage that's more than worth the price of admission.

On the DVDTown scale, "Shine a Light" rates a 7/10.

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