Film 14 (9/3/2005)

The Last Waltz (1978)

Director: Martin Scorsese

Recommended by: tonguetiedlightning

Has Fentablar seen this before?: No.

To quote from legendary anchorman Ron Burgundy: "for years now, people have asked me what I think makes the world go 'round. Money? Too obvious. Love? Only if it's done right. No, in my opinion - it's music. Or lyricas, as the Greeks called it."

If Ron Burgundy was ever right about anything, it's that music does indeed make the world go 'round. I do not know a single person who does not listen to and appreciate music, whatever their taste for it may be. But of course, the height of musical experience is the live performance.

In his documentary The Last Waltz, Scorsese gives a great portrayal of the farewell concert (dubbed The Last Waltz) of The Band, a well known and influential rock 'n roll band from the 60's and 70's. While viewing this film, I found myself truly wishing that I were alive and old enough to have been at this concert personally.

Interspersed amongst the myriad of blockbuster live tunes - several of which feature guest performances by some of rock 'n roll's greatest legends (Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Neil Diamond, Joni Mitchell - to name a few) - are candid interview scenes with the members of The Band. These scenes are handled very well and focus on The Band's memories of their history together, their long years of travelling the road and their experiences with various contemporaries.

While I certainly enjoyed watching the concert performance, I found the interview scenes surprisingly appreciable and a bit oddly refreshing. I say oddly refreshing because, for some unknown (Metallica) reason it was nice to see The Band regale their experiences as a band, instead of talking about how hard of a life they had growing up or about how messed up their lives were while touring because of all the alcohol and drug use.

It was simply about the music. VH1 should have been taking notes.

Ratings (scale of 1 to 5):

Footage Quality: 4/5. The footage used was very decent, but not excellent. Of course, most of this was not under Scorsese's control.

Interviews: 5/5. Served the exact purpose of this film and did not distract at all from the concert.

Structure and Fluidity: 5/5. Perfect. Granted, it's not difficult to screw up in this category when doing a documentary like this, but at the same time it is rare that there are no glitches whatsoever.

OVERALL RATING: 4.5/5

~Fentablar~