Review: Scorsese shows new side to The Rolling Stones

Directed by: Martin Scorsese

Starring: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood, Charlie Watts

Rated: PG-13

What is there left to say, hear or learn about The Rolling Stones?

For more than 40 years, they’ve been touted as the “world’s greatest rock and roll band.” For more than 30 years, they’ve been the butt of thousands of jokes about their aging process, drug habits and ultimate demise. And they are possibly, in both film and print, the most intensely documented band in the history of music.

So why would anyone need another Stones film after seeing “Gimme Shelter,” “Let’s Spend the Night Together,” “One Plus One (aka “Sympathy for the Devil”), “Rock and Roll Circus,” “Ladies and Gentlemen, the Rolling Stones” and others?

See Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light,” and the question will be moot.

All band members are now in their sixties, and The Stones are as vibrant as they have ever been. Frontman Mick Jagger has not only maintained his surefire stage persona but has managed to become a more fluid and graceful physical performer than he was in younger days. He hasn’t lost his sense of playful irony along the way either. The rest of the band – officially, it’s Keith Richards and Ron Wood on guitars and Charlie Watts on drums, but the support group consists of at least 10 more – follow him strut for strut.

While some may think The Stones are caricatures of themselves, it should be noted they have always been caricatures. That has always been part of their charm.

The other reason to see the film is Scorsese’s over-the-top approach to the presentation. Scorsese has already made what most critics think is the benchmark rock documentary, The Band’s “The Last Waltz,” as well as the PBS documentary about Bob Dylan “No Direction Home” and the first (and best) episode of the PBS mini-series “The Blues.” His oeuvre of theatrical films is well-known and much heralded.

Scorsese, in an interview with Peter Travers of Rolling Stone magazine – no relation to the band except both were named after a Muddy Waters song – talks about his obsession with the band and how its music shaped his films from the very start of his career. He says of listening to them early on, “I’d imagine camera moves or editing patterns, and it freed my mind creatively. A lot of that relentless energy went into ‘Mean Streets,’ into ‘Taxi Driver.’”

That energy is evident in “Shine a Light.” Scorsese used 18 cameras for the shoot and hired an array of Oscar-blessed cinematographers to helm them. The result isn’t so much like seeing the band perform the show but being on stage with them. After two hours of it, I was physically drained. Bob Clearmountain, an A-list audio producer/engineer who has a history with the band, did the audio mix.

Many of the clichés the group has developed over the years are readily (in your face, to be more precise) noticeable: Jagger’s mugging, preening and prancing; Richards’ iconoclastic swagger; Wood’s rubber-faced grins; and, as always, the epitome of an English gent, drummer Watts rolling his eyes at the entire carnival. He’s soft-spoken and droll and has one of the best lines in the film. Early on, when talking to a member of the film crew he says, “I love movies ... er, watching them.”

Scorsese does very little background documentation. He uses some pre-existing interviews from the 1960s and 1970s. As he said, “The history of The Rolling Stones is right there onstage, in their faces.”

Jagger originally wanted to do the filming at a 2006 concert on the beach in Rio in front of a million people, but he and Scorsese compromised, and “Shine a Light” was shot at New York City’s intimate Beacon Theater. It was a wise choice.

The first few minutes of the film touch on some friction between Jagger and Scorsese, who are both acknowledged control freaks with different agendas for the two shows being filmed. There are also scenes from the first night featuring Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Hillary’s mother who kept the band waiting for a bit. The two shows were benefits for the Clinton Foundation.

Other guests include Jack White of The White Stripes on “Loving Cup,” Christina Aguilera (who seems entirely unintimidated by Jagger) and blues legend Buddy Guy doing the showstopping “Champagne and Reefer.” At the end of the song, Richards hands Guy the guitar he had been playing and says, “It’s yours, man.”

Little moments like that are very telling. The Stones have always been champions of blues music and blues musicians and have turned many generations of kids on to the blues. The respect the band has for Guy when he’s playing is palpable. It’s a high point in a film filled with high points.

I have seen all of the band’s movies, and seen the band live five times, and while I’ve never lost my respect for them even through a long string of lackluster records, I wasn’t all too sure there was really any reason to see them rehashing their repertoire on-screen yet again.

I was wrong.

For fans of the band, “Shine a Light” is a brilliant piece of work.

Jim Wunderle owns Wunderle Sound Services and is a Springfield freelance writer and musician. He can be reached at info@wunderlesound.com.