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Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Savage Messiah: Ken Russell => Topic started by: Iain Fisher on August 18, 2019, 03:14:35 PM

Title: The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians
Post by: Iain Fisher on August 18, 2019, 03:14:35 PM
The Observer newspaper got musicians to choose their favourite films about music.

Song of Summer (a tv programme not a film, but as it's Ken we can let it pass.  It was chosen by Neil Tennant of The Pet Shop Boys.  He describes it as “an elegiac film about the painful process of creating music and the end of a creative life. It’s very emotional, unsettling and moving. Delius is an incredibly tragic figure, both fragile and brutal. Russell was brilliant at creating images to accompany music.”

The list is mainly pop/rock music plus the odd county/ blues/ classical films included.  There are films based on people (The Doors by Oliver Stone, Out of Control (on Joy Division), Walk the Line (Jonny Cash), Bird (Charlie Parker), The Young Ones (Cliff Richard).  Documentaries included Amy (Amy Whitehouse), Cracked Actor (Bowie), 30th Century Man (Scott Walker), C*cksucker Blues (with a title like that it has to be The Rolling Stones), Woodstock, The Kids are Alright (The Who), Live at Pompei (Pink Floyd)..  Others include Cabaret and the magnificent This is Spinal Tap.

The article is here
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/18/the-best-films-about-music-chosen-by-musicians-documentaries-concert-films-biopics (https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/aug/18/the-best-films-about-music-chosen-by-musicians-documentaries-concert-films-biopics)
The interviews were carried out by Jude Rogers and Killian Fox.
Title: Re: The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians
Post by: BoyScoutKevin on August 21, 2019, 01:51:24 AM
I always find these lists interesting. As for how many I have seen, the answer is 0. And I am including, unfortunately, Song of Summer. Though, thinking about it, why is Tommy not on this list?
Title: Re: The 30 best films about music, chosen by musicians
Post by: Iain Fisher on August 27, 2019, 10:01:42 PM
I was expecting Tommy to be on the list as well.

Song of Summer is probably the perfect television film (and I'd put The Devils as Ken's perfect cinema film).  It is well worth watching.  The original started with some Laurel and Hardy footage, but this was later removed when the estate of Laurel and Hardy wanted royalties.  In the last DVD issue (by the British Film Institute I think) they added some silent era film (not Laurel and Hardy) which did just as well.