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Variety: The 12 Greatest Rock Docs
Quote:
What makes a great rock & roll documentary? It has to do with that special combination of subject matter, cinematic style, and moment. Cued to the release of Jim Jarmusch’s Iggy and the Stooges documentary, “Gimme Danger,” Variety Chief Film Critic Owen Gleiberman ranks the 12 greatest rock docs. (Only ground rule: No straight-up concert films.)
12. The Decline of Western Civilization Part II: The Metal Years
11. Amy
Amy Winehouse made only two albums, and her alcoholic self-destruction, which culminated in her death at the tragically iconic age of 27, was arguably the first downward spiral of any rock star to be relentlessly chronicled in the era of tabloid/YouTube voyeurism. So what is there left to look at in a documentary portrait of her? Her entire life, as it turns out. Asif Kapadia’s gripping film uses an extraordinary trove of archival and home-video footage to take us deep inside Winehouse’s journey as a musician who emerged out of working-class London like the second coming of Aretha Franklin crossed with the reincarnation of Billie Holiday. The film reveals what none of the gossip ever did — the complex, vulnerable, artistically indomitable human being behind the beehive and cat-eye makeup. As we see how Winehouse put her albums together, her music becomes more gorgeous than ever, her descent into addiction more devastating.
10. Tupac: Resurrection
9. From the Sky Down
8. Anvil! The Story of Anvil
7. The Filth and the Fury
6. Let It Be
5. Madonna: Truth or Dare
What the revelatory 1967 Bob Dylan-on-tour doc “Don’t Look Back” was to its era, this document of Madonna’s 1990 Blond Ambition tour is to its. In the space of two hypnotically lively hours, you feel the fly-in-the-wall “innocence” of cinema verité give way to the devious spirit of reality TV, of which “Truth or Dare” (in technique and atmosphere, at least) was arguably the founding text. At the time, many thought Madonna’s offstage personality was “calculated” — or, as Warren Beatty famously puts it in his aging-boy-toy cameo, “She doesn’t want to live off camera.” Yet 25 years later, the correct response might be: And who does? “Truth or Dare” now looks like a nakedly revealing document, as it captures the fearless calculus of Madonna’s fame as well as her complicated interface with the dancers who are at once her adoring collaborators, her bitch-snap peanut gallery, and her “children.” At times, Madonna suggests a passionflower Edie Sedgwick, but there’s a life force to her confrontational energy: She comes on like the first woman of the 20th century who didn’t need to seize power because she was simply born breathing it. And in the majesty of Madonna’s concert performances, you feel the glorious optimism of the early ’90s, perhaps the last moment when a pop star could remake the world.
4. Standing in the Shadows of Motown
3. Gimme Shelter
2. Don’t Look Back
1. Woodstock
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