Neil Young: Heart of Gold
Y
Jan 27, 2006
This review was written for the festival screening of "Neil Young: Heart of Gold."
PARK CITY -- Rock troubadour Neil Young takes center stage in Nashville in the wake of life-threatening brain surgery. He survived, and in this documentation of his two-night "Prairie Wind" concert last year, he triumphs. This smart, aesthetically understated concert film from Jonathan Demme will transport Young's legions of baby boomer fans back to the future, as 1969 re-invents itself in 2005 for Young.
Paramount Classics will reap, if not necessarily gold, at least laudably bronze with this select-site release. On Paramount Home Entertainment's video, Young geriatrics can recall those protesting days of yesteryear and the singer's tours with Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y and solo.
Admittedly, you can't lump we graying '60s folk into one boxoffice plot: Don't expect the Lynyrd Skynyrd fans to have any more time for Young's song sermonizing than they did back in "Sweet Home Alabama" or those of us who gravitated more solidly to the Stones when Keith Richards dismissed "Ohio" as "very topical." Different songs for the same throngs, as Billboard might opine.
In this homey assembly, Young gathers his musical loved ones (Emmylou Harris among them) to the grand ole stage of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Confidently hunched under his wide-brim hat, Young strums a family message. Pattering away about "empty-nesting" and his 21-year-old daughter, Young rambles with a gentle assurance, emblematic of his new music, which was inspired by the awful news of a brain aneurysm. Prior to surgery last year, Young composed in a flurry, but his new music is the stuff of strength and assurance, not of panic.
A mix of the new with the old, the concert not surprisingly kicks in with the "oldies" midsection, not paunchy but still cut and vibrant: "Heart of Gold," "Old Man." Perhaps best is Young's tribute to the old guitar he plays that was originally owned by Hank Williams. In a sobering solo in the cleared-out concert hall, Young shows he's a fitting caretaker for the instrument.
In perfect harmony with Young's music, Demme's direction is clear and straightforward, serving the music and the artistry.
NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD
Paramount Classics and Paramount Home Enterainment in association with Shangri La Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Jonathan Demme
Producers: Jonathan Demme, Ilona Herzberg
Executive producer: Bernard Shakey, Elliot Rabinowitz, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Michael Zansky
Music by: Neil Young
Editor: Andy Keir
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 103 minutes
PARK CITY -- Rock troubadour Neil Young takes center stage in Nashville in the wake of life-threatening brain surgery. He survived, and in this documentation of his two-night "Prairie Wind" concert last year, he triumphs. This smart, aesthetically understated concert film from Jonathan Demme will transport Young's legions of baby boomer fans back to the future, as 1969 re-invents itself in 2005 for Young.
Paramount Classics will reap, if not necessarily gold, at least laudably bronze with this select-site release. On Paramount Home Entertainment's video, Young geriatrics can recall those protesting days of yesteryear and the singer's tours with Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y and solo.
Admittedly, you can't lump we graying '60s folk into one boxoffice plot: Don't expect the Lynyrd Skynyrd fans to have any more time for Young's song sermonizing than they did back in "Sweet Home Alabama" or those of us who gravitated more solidly to the Stones when Keith Richards dismissed "Ohio" as "very topical." Different songs for the same throngs, as Billboard might opine.
In this homey assembly, Young gathers his musical loved ones (Emmylou Harris among them) to the grand ole stage of Nashville's Ryman Auditorium. Confidently hunched under his wide-brim hat, Young strums a family message. Pattering away about "empty-nesting" and his 21-year-old daughter, Young rambles with a gentle assurance, emblematic of his new music, which was inspired by the awful news of a brain aneurysm. Prior to surgery last year, Young composed in a flurry, but his new music is the stuff of strength and assurance, not of panic.
A mix of the new with the old, the concert not surprisingly kicks in with the "oldies" midsection, not paunchy but still cut and vibrant: "Heart of Gold," "Old Man." Perhaps best is Young's tribute to the old guitar he plays that was originally owned by Hank Williams. In a sobering solo in the cleared-out concert hall, Young shows he's a fitting caretaker for the instrument.
In perfect harmony with Young's music, Demme's direction is clear and straightforward, serving the music and the artistry.
NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD
Paramount Classics and Paramount Home Enterainment in association with Shangri La Entertainment
Credits:
Director: Jonathan Demme
Producers: Jonathan Demme, Ilona Herzberg
Executive producer: Bernard Shakey, Elliot Rabinowitz, Gary Goetzman
Director of photography: Ellen Kuras
Production designer: Michael Zansky
Music by: Neil Young
Editor: Andy Keir
MPAA rating: PG
Running time -- 103 minutes
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