This was a frustrating experience to sit through. Part concert film, part biography with historical footage & photos, part present day interview, these various strands seem to be struggling with each other. This was filmed primarily at a series of Leonard Cohen tribute performances organized by producer Hal Willner in Sydney, Australia during January 2005 under the banner of "Came So Far For Beauty". Many of the same artists had also performed similar concerts during 2004 in New York City and the UK. Interview clips with Leonard Cohen at his home in LA along with some archival photos and film footage are interspersed into the concert scenes.
The flow of this wasn't always very satisfying and there was one aspect that began to get more irritating the longer the film went on. The filmmakers begin sabotaging their own concert artists by editing/interjecting an occasional red sparkle/red sequin image over their performances, which you gradually realize is a foreshadowing of Leonard Cohen's own performance with U2 (filmed at a totally separate non-concert staged studio setting) to come at the very end of the film. It is like they're constantly saying: "Don't worry if you don't like this particular performance, Leonard Cohen himself is yet to come!". What kind of message is that to send in the middle of your film with other performers? Some songs are even interrupted in mid-performance by historical or interview footage and then when Leonard Cohen is telling some good anecdote we go back to another cheat sheet performance (many of the singers don't seem to know the lyrics, so their eyes and eyelids constantly have a downcast/lidded look as they look to their music stands for the words). Still, there are some terrific performances here by Rufus Wainwright (on "Everybody Knows", "Chelsea Hotel #2" & "Hallelujah") Martha Wainwright (on "The Traitor") Beth Orton & Jarvis Cocker (duet on "Death of a Ladies' Man) and former Leonard Cohen band alumni Perla Battala & Julie Christensen (they also lend terrific support for most of the other singers) on "Anthem" and with the greatest revelation being the single monikered Antony (actually Antony Hegarty of Antony and the Johnsons) giving a show-stealing rendition of "If It Be Your Will".
Leonard Cohen's & U2's seemingly mimed/lip-synced performance of "Tower of Song" comes as a big let down at the end. Even more frustratingly, the main concert's rehearsal clips show the rest of the singers rehearsing a group finale, which, after a search on the internet (see http://www.leonardcohenfiles.com/hw-sydney.html), I found out was the Sydney show's closing number "Memories" ("I walked up to the tallest and the blondest girl, I said, look, you don't know me now, but pretty soon you will, So won't you let me see, won't you let me see, won't you let me see
, your naked body.") which would have made for a much more humorous and rollicking finale but is sadly not to be seen in the film. A great opportunity lost but perhaps still a future possibility for a DVD down the road. Still, Leonard Cohen tells some great stories and Rufus Wainwright gets to tell his own personal "Leonard Cohen moment" story and Nick Cave gets to talk about his discovery of "Songs of Love and Hate", but I would rather have had a pure concert film or a pure interview/biography (or better yet, both separately!) rather than this hybrid which doesn't satisfy either craving completely. The good moments rescue this enough to bring it up to a 7 out of 10.
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
2005
Biography / Documentary / Music
Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
2005
Biography / Documentary / Music
Plot summary
Poet, singer / songwriter and ladies man Leonard Cohen is interviewed in his home about his life and times. The interview is interspersed with archive photos and exuberant praise and live perfomances from an eclectic mix of musicians, including: Jarvis Cocker, Rufus & Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, ANOHNI, The Handsome Family and U2's Bono and The Edge.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
January 08, 2024 at 01:41 PM
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Frustrating experience but still some good performances & good Leonard Cohen stories
MUST-SEE viewing (& listening) for Leonard Cohen fans worldwide, and if you haven't yet joined the cult of LC then here's your chance to find out what 'everybody knows'!
From his early days in Montreal, Canada to his current residence at the Zen monastery on Mt. Baldy in California, artist Leonard Cohen continues to inspire songwriters and increase his cult of followers while only recording one new album within a nearly 15 year span.
The 9-year gap that separated THE FUTURE (1992) and TEN NEW SONGS (2001) was by far the longest in Leonard Cohen's recording career to many longtime fans chagrin. But the interviews with Cohen in this film seem to indicate that the fire is coming back into his belly and he might not only record again, but possibly tour.
Certainly the last musical selection in this documentary, which features Leonard Cohen performing "Tower of Song" with backing from the rock band U2 (that's right, Bono sings back-up vocals only), points up the merits of a world tour with guest artists, one that could propel the Canadian legend into the mainstream at last.
One of the most striking elements that separates this concert-docu from the many that have been released in recent years is the depth of the love that these performers and songwriters have for Cohen's music. They know how hard it is write powerful lyrics, and the fact that Cohen will spend as long as a year perfecting his verses it becomes no wonder that any other artist who hears his words for the first time is immediately a fan for life.
While some recent rock-umentaries have faltered (re: any Ramones docu) when trying to blend edited-down songs with 'talking head' interviews, this one marvelously blends both elements to the rhythm of the concert itself. Director Lian Lunson seamlessly weaves the songs and interviews together while letting the instrumental breaks underscore enough of the non-concert footage to keep the audience 'in' it. In this way, almost all of Cohen's lyrics can be heard in each selection and none of his lyrical impact is diminished.
Leonard Cohen is the 'heroin' of rock 'n' roll, in that once you've heard one of his songs you immediately want to hear more of what this man has to say. After listening to so many of his essential works in this film, you'll immediately want to hear the 'man' himself so be prepared (re: bring credit card) to leave the theater and hit the nearest record store for your post-docu 'fix' (re: stock up on Cohen's catalog or the dbl-CD that spans his entire career).
LEONARD COHEN fans unite!!! He's out of the monastery and back in the studio, so there's much more where that came from and hopefully many more new albums to come.
Music soundtrack (this will be one of the MUST-OWN albums of the year for LC-fans)
Pre-concert: Waiting for the Miracle - Sung by Leonard Cohen (album recording)
Concert numbers:
#1 - I'm Your Man - Sung by Nick Cave
#2 - A Thousand Kisses Deep - Sung by Linda Thompson & the Handsome Family
#3 - Everybody Knows - Sung by Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, with Kate (their mother) & Anna (her sister) McGarrigle
#4 - The Traitor - Sung by Martha Wainwright
#5 - Winter Lady - Sung by Kate & Anna McGarrigle w/ Martha Wainwright
#6 - Tonight I Will Be Fine - Sung by Teddy Thompson #7 - If It Be Your Will - Sung by Antony
#8 - Sisters of Mercy - Sung by Beth Orton
#9 - Chelsea Hotel #2 - Sung by Rufus Wainwright
#10 - Suzanne - Sung by Nick Cave
#11 - Death of a Ladies Man - Sung by Jarvis Cocker & Beth Orton
#12 - Anthem - Sung by Julie Christensen & Perla Batalla
#13 - Hallelujah - Sung by Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, with Joan Wasser
Post-concert performance (in New York):
Tower of Song - Sung by Leonard Cohen w/ U2
End credits song: I'm Your Man - Sung by Leonard Cohen (studio recording)
The Voice and Songs of Cohen Surmount Visual Gimmicks
"Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man" is an entertaining and informative tribute to the iconic singer-songwriter/poet.
Structuring the film as a mostly chronological autobiographical interview with Cohen, director Lian Lunson intersperses his personal family photographs and home movies with cover performances at a Sydney Opera House concert to illustrate themes in his life. While his experiences in New York City have been well-documented to fans, especially in his own songs, the depth of the influence of his Canadian heritage is a new insight. With only a humorous nod to his reputation as a "ladies man" (he sounds like every rock 'n' roller on VH-1 cheerfully admitting that he became a musician to pick up chicks), his spiritual explorations are well explained, including his Jewish background and a visit with his Zen mentor.
Unusual for this adulatory genre, Cohen is articulate about his songwriting as a painstaking craft in general, though only a couple of specific songs that we see intensely performed or the albums they are from are given more context, such as who "Suzanne" was and working with Phil Spector.
Throughout, the performers from Canada, the U.S., England, Ireland and Australia, male, female, straight and gay, discuss his songs and the impact they have had on their lives and art. While it is not mentioned until the very last credit, this 2005 concert is based on a packed 2003 concert in Brooklyn also produced by Hal Willner, as part of the Canadian Consulate's annual Canada Day sponsorship in Prospect Park, under the rubric "Came So Far For Beauty: An Evening of Songs by Leonard Cohen Under the Stars," which featured many of the same performers captured on stage here, including Rufus Wainwright, who relates surprising personal anecdotes about his formative connection with the Cohen family, his sister Martha Wainwright, his mother and aunt Kate and Anna McGarrigle, Nick Cave, the Handsome Family (Brett and Rennie Sparks), Teddy Thompson and his mother Linda Thompson, and Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen who have backed Cohen on his last two tours, with an all-star downtown NYC band led by the horns of Steve Bernstein and the master guitar of Mark Ribot.
Instead of Laurie Andersen at that magical night, added are Jarvis Cocker and Antony Hegarty (known respectively as the leader of the bands Pulp and Antony and the Johnsons, though that's never mentioned in the film) and Beth Orton. The performers are only identified in the opening and closing credits. While the concert footage nicely mixes close-ups and full band shots, it is more than half-way through the film before we hear any audience reaction, and we only see glimpses of the audience towards the end. Added climactically just to the film is Cohen singing with U2 at a small club.
The interviews are all talking heads, with the extensive Cohen conversations focusing on the planes of his face, particularly as the camera gazes at him adoringly during silences, including a lot of freeze frames. There is an annoying repetitive device of blurring with fades in and fades out, and theatrical focus on a back stage scrim of beads, accompanied by odd theremin-like sounds. This reinforces the somewhat cabaret interpretations of several of the performers that would seem more appropriate to a Tom Waits tribute and are very unlike the two tribute albums that have already been produced.
Cohen himself is so charismatic and his rumbling voice is so magisterial that he surmounts the visual gimmicks.