Shine a Light

Shine a Light (2008) - 6/10

First Viewed: 4/18/08
Directed by Martin Scorsese

Shine a Light, which records a live Rolling Stones concert at the Beacon Theater in New York City, presents four older musicians who are having the time of their life in simply performing and playing music. The film starts off with a hilariously neurotic Martin Scorsese trying to organize his crew and deal with the volatile nature of the band's song line-up. I personally enjoy this behind-the-scenes footage, but Scorsese instead chooses to focus exclusively on the band once the concert kicks off with the rousing song Jumping Jack Flash.

The film is at its best in presenting the little moments: Keith Richards leaning on Ronnie Wood's shoulder, Mick Jagger posing for a number of seconds in mid-song while an audience member snaps a photo with her camera-phone, Bill Clinton telling the audience how the Stones, starting to walk on-stage, are concerned about climate change when the band members obviously couldn't give a fuck. The film makes it very clear that The Stones are, above all, performers, and very charismatic ones at that.

Scorsese, knowing that it is essential to capture fleeting moments in an environment with less than ideal lighting, wisely enlists some of my favorite cinematographers including Robert Richardson (Kill Bill), Robert Elswit (There Will be Blood, Good Night and Good Luck), Emmanuel Lubezki (Children of Men, The New World, Sleepy Hollow), Andrew Lesnie (Lord of the Rings), and John Toll (Almost Famous, The Thin Red Line). Needless to say, the concert, shot with a myriad of angles, excellent compositions, and good exposures, looks outstanding.

The overall film, however, suffers because Scorsese struggles to determine what kind of film he is making. He flirts with the behind-the-scenes work in the beginning, then the film becomes a concert film, which he then intersperses with footage of interviews involving younger and even more egotistic members of the band. The result is a strangely structured and jumbled film that doesn't offer a fresh perspective on the band.

The experience, with all its visual and aural stimulation, becomes numbing and, frankly, a little boring. I am not a fan of the songs in the middle, which all seemed to blend together and I did not like Jagger's vocal - to make a distinction from his incredible physical - performance, as he seemed to be talking rather than singing. But if my senses are going to be beaten into submission, The Stones are certainly the preferred and optimal method.