London Film Festival October 16th 2009
When You're Strange is a film made by Tom DiCillo with the full co-operation of The Doors and access to the bands archive. It should have had all the advantage that every previous attempt at telling this story did not have and should have been the definitive story. Instead it's just another retelling of the Oliver Stone movie without the swearing and nudity. The band/Morrison footage that is used as a backdrop to the story is pretty decent bordering on amazing sometimes and the visual side of the whole is done rather well and keeps the viewer interested. It falls down totally on the narrative side, which is an utter mess. Facts are thrown at the listener at an alarming rate but are never really explored or expanded in any interesting detail leaving Doors fan bemused let alone the casual fan. The period of 1965/1966 in which pretty much all the defining moments that made The Doors what they were occurred is pretty much encapsulated in Morrison off his tits on acid doing the Oedipal End and getting the band fired from the Whisky. No exploration of the song writing process nor feel at how utterly unique the band were in the 60s. The headlong rush to Miami continued with more random facts and at last we could gawk at Morrison the knob flashing maniac who nearly brought America to it's knees. Some mention of the albums and Morrison is off to die in Paris. Johnny Depp provides a rather stilted commentary which was a shame as I had high hopes for him but considering what he had to work with it's understandable. The feeling I got of this was that Jim Morrison was to blame for everything really and he left his band mates so traumatised that they have been unable to do any meaningful work for the last 30 years having to exist on the meagre pittance the royalties from his talents bring in each year. Bad Jim! Rather like a Doors Greatest Hits documentary never exploring beneath the thin veneer whilst touching all the bases required. An Idiots Guide To The Doors. Worth watching if you are a Doors fan but never likely to intellectually stimulate you which is something the band did in spades and still does to this day. Arguably the most intelligent band that has trod a board once again reduced to the level of MTV blandness. DiCillo you ought to be made to clean Oliver Stone's swimming pool for the next 6 months as a penance.
When You're Strange is a film made by Tom DiCillo with the full co-operation of The Doors and access to the bands archive. It should have had all the advantage that every previous attempt at telling this story did not have and should have been the definitive story. Instead it's just another retelling of the Oliver Stone movie without the swearing and nudity. The band/Morrison footage that is used as a backdrop to the story is pretty decent bordering on amazing sometimes and the visual side of the whole is done rather well and keeps the viewer interested. It falls down totally on the narrative side, which is an utter mess. Facts are thrown at the listener at an alarming rate but are never really explored or expanded in any interesting detail leaving Doors fan bemused let alone the casual fan. The period of 1965/1966 in which pretty much all the defining moments that made The Doors what they were occurred is pretty much encapsulated in Morrison off his tits on acid doing the Oedipal End and getting the band fired from the Whisky. No exploration of the song writing process nor feel at how utterly unique the band were in the 60s. The headlong rush to Miami continued with more random facts and at last we could gawk at Morrison the knob flashing maniac who nearly brought America to it's knees. Some mention of the albums and Morrison is off to die in Paris. Johnny Depp provides a rather stilted commentary which was a shame as I had high hopes for him but considering what he had to work with it's understandable. The feeling I got of this was that Jim Morrison was to blame for everything really and he left his band mates so traumatised that they have been unable to do any meaningful work for the last 30 years having to exist on the meagre pittance the royalties from his talents bring in each year. Bad Jim! Rather like a Doors Greatest Hits documentary never exploring beneath the thin veneer whilst touching all the bases required. An Idiots Guide To The Doors. Worth watching if you are a Doors fan but never likely to intellectually stimulate you which is something the band did in spades and still does to this day. Arguably the most intelligent band that has trod a board once again reduced to the level of MTV blandness. DiCillo you ought to be made to clean Oliver Stone's swimming pool for the next 6 months as a penance.