Hey, everyone. "Moriarty" here with some Rumblings From The Lab.
Nice piece. Between this and STANDING IN THE SHADOWS OF MOTOWN, sounds like there’s some good music in theaters in the near future for R&B and soul fans.
Hey Harry, Hellstrom here.
I attended the screening of “Only the Strong Survive” Sunday at the AFI fest hosted by the Arclight theatre (the greatest multiplex I’ve ever been to). “Only the Strong Survive” is directed by D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus—who were sadly not in attendance because they were in London accepting an award for “Startup dotcom”. Producer Roger Friedman—who narrates the picture—was in attendance and he brought out soul legend Sam Moore to say a few words before the film began (Q and A was promised but I unfortunately had to skip it in favor of getting back home in time for other responsibilities). This played in the same screen we saw “Lawrence of Arabia” in 70mm at, so the sc! reen was huge (and rather unkind when they were using sources from less than 35mm), which was absolutely wonderful—especially when coupled with the amazing sound of the film.
This film is about ten living legends of soul and R&B, performers that revolutionized music and continue to perform today. Sam Moore, Isaac Hayes, Mary Wilson (the Supremes), Rufus and Carla Thomas, the Chi-Lites, Jerry Butler and more. Sadly, Rufus Thomas, who was in his eighties when the footage was shot, has since passed away—the picture is dedicated to him.
I like all types of films, and all types of music; I wish I could get to every film at the festival, but I’ll be doing good to make two. I chose “Only the Strong Survive” on the strength of “Down From the Mountain”. “Down from the Mountain” is a documentary by the same team (they also did “Monterey Pop” which is getting a super lavish criterion DVD treatment that makes me drool and long to own it, but unfortunately its price prevents me) about the concert put on by the artists featured in “O Brother Where Art Thou?”. I adored “Down From the Mountain” it’s one of the top films from 2001 in my opinion, infinitely re-watchable with some truly awesome moments. I have the DVD, and the CD, I want the poster—it’s a glorious, awesome one-sheet, but I’ve yet to! see it on EBay—the documentary portions of the film are excellent but what really makes it shine is the music, which thoroughly overshadow the invisible, but technically incredible, recording of the performances. The same holds true of “Only the Strong Survive” all of the documentary aspects of the film are fun, wonderful, touching, and enlightening, but they’re really there only to tease us. Pennebaker and Hegedus is truly evil in this sense, he works you up and introduces a handful of outstanding performance in the first half hour, one from the ever incredible Sam Moore is especially fun, but instead of piling up performances towards a short orgasmic high, he slows down—takes the time to listen to a few more stories from these incredible artists—and we calm down and enjoy the camaraderie that’s offered in this film. It’s one thing I would have loved to have more of in “Down From the Mountain”, but it was sadly limited, focused on the concert aspect. I wish it could have been another 90 minutes long, just sitting down and discussing those performers heritage and history—how awesome would it be to sit back and let the natural storytelling rhythms of Appalachia and the rural south just flow out of those incredibly talented performers? And that’s something Pennebaker and Hegedus do in this film, they show us an incredible performance and then slow down the pace, not the momentum, they just shift to a lower gear—just relaxing, enjoying the moment, basking in the afterglow of listening to some damn fine music—then suddenly we’re back with a better performance than before and the cycle continues accelerating to the show-stopping duet between Rufus Thomas and his daughter. And like “Down From the Mountain” there is no centerpiece to the film, it interweaves between ten performers with more talent in any single little finger than all of the teeny bopper manufactured successes of the past decade—combined. There are, however, many moments that stand out as simply beautiful moments of film and music. There’s a song by Sam Moore early on (I won’t tell you which one, just watch the movie instead), that’s as incredible as the “Big Rock Candy Mountain” in “Down From the Mountain” and there’s the duet that is for “Only the Strong Survive” what “O, Death” was for “Down from the Mountain”—not a centerpiece, but simply a cathartic music experience—perfection.
There’s nothing more frustrating to me than people that only listen to rap, or hard rock, or even 60’s-70’s rock, or country, or even classical, or film scores, hell I even get frustrated (like everyone else) with people that listen exclusively to Christian themed music (incidentally most of them are broad minded and will listen to any music type, so long as it’s from a Christian label); I listen to all of the above and anything else. My current favorite artist is Janis Ian, who writes incredible music and sings them with a heart stopping alacrity; but that will change as I continue to sample all types and kinds of music, to do less is a stunning shackling of the soul.
Music, like film, can cause us to transcend ourselves and experience things as someone else sees and feels them. Orson Scott Card said it best, through Ender of course (nothing to do with music, but it applies wonderfully): “I think it's impossible to really understand somebody, what they want, what they believe, and not love them the way they love themselves." That’s what music and film do for us, it makes us part of someone else, it’s a powerful empathetic experience—and it completely depends on the amount you’re willing to invest yourself into something, to quote Cameron Crowe “To love some silly piece of music so much that it hurts”. But let’s not forget they are also supposed to entertain, music and film are entertainment, they can make us think and cry, but that doesn’t cast the films that make us smile, laugh, or simply take some sort of sick pleasure out of, as lesser than the films or music that do otherwise. When Ted Turner started/bought/whatever the WCW he called Vince McMahon and told him he was in the wrasslin business, Vince replied, “that’s great, Ted, but I’m in the entertainment business,” words of wisdom that should be heard more often. Yes, I’ve sampled wrestling at some point, and I think it’s a lot like rock an roll; it’s a form of entertainment that is “gloriously and righteously dumb”. Anyway, people that exclude themselves to one type of music are in my opinion, crippled. The same holds true for the type of people who specifically exclude a type of music because of the stereotypes associated with it, i.e.: an older generation that doesn’t or won’t listen to rap, or teenage 1337 h4Ck3R5 that loath country music. Everything has something worth listening to if you’ll give it a chance instead of simply rejecting an entire genre because you have a perceived dislike of some conventions of its iconography. Where is all this going? Well I’m trying to convince everyone to see this film even if they know absolutely nothing about the music in question—the experience you will get is well worth the relatively miniscule investment you’ll have to make to buy a movie ticket. The songs on here may (and that’s a very unlikely may) not be the absolute best of the best of this genre, but I’d put forth that whether or not it’s the best doesn’t matter, because the heart and feeling these performers put into the songs featured in this film MAKE them the best, make them performances worth seeking out and creates probably the richest and most satisfying soul/R&B experience I’ve seen or heard.
Isaac Hayes, Wilson Pickett, and the Iceman Jerry Butler simply embody the definition of cool, no one else is cool they way these two guys are, it’s just an unreachable level of cool that only Morgan Freeman approaches, because he seems to understand that the supreme level of cool is as much about Dignity as it is about suaveness (hear that Samuel L. Jackson, no more 51st state/Formula 51, man!). Then there’s Sam Moore and Rufus Thomas; two men that have lived long and hard, yet still came out top. There’s a moment in the film, probably my favorite moment, when Sam Moore’s wife is discussing how she fought off his drug addiction, and there’s this brief cut to Sam, looking out at the strip he used to work as a dealer, as his wife continues on that just broke my heart. It’s a half second shot, but there is so much pain and emotion in Sam Moore, despite the moment's brevity—and even as mightily as it was nearly concealed—it is overwhelmingly powerful.
I may have one or two quibbles if I sit down and think about it, like that Roger Friedman’s narration was at times unnecessary, or that there is not nearly enough Isaac Hayes, but these things aren’t even worth mentioning based on the strength of everything else.
Right now this is the second finest film I’ve seen this year, only “Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakusi” was more satisfying or more perfect in my opinion (btw Harry ever going to write us a review of Miyazaki’s newest masterwork?), and “Signs” is running a close third to both of them.
This is definitely a film worth seeking out, I wish I knew something about its release schedule, but I wasn’t at the QandA to ask. This is one of the finest films of the year folks; do not ignore or forget it! And if you get the opportunity, go see it! I’ll definitely be back to see this if I get the chance. I hope that Miramax doesn’t drop the ball with this, it’s a difficult film to sell, but I wish they would put a huge effort into getting the word out on it, I don’t know if it’s already ran through distribution (imdb said it was at Sundance 2002), if so it’s a sad thing that this incredible film has made less of a splash than it righteously deserves.
When it comes down to it “Only the Strong Survive” is a film about greatness, these performers are some of the best, they’re great, and they’ve managed to survive and endure into the modern “industry of cool” (albeit a watered down cool), or rather they endure as a radio DJ or fighting for artists rights, these people continue to carry on, and their greatness endures because of their unrelenting persistence—their tenacity to live life and enjoy life. Words to live by are mentioned at times in here, and you get the sense that the wisdom was righteously earned from a life fully lived, scars, knocks and all. In fact there was a quote that sprang to mind in processing this film, that I feel sums up what these artists embody:
“Greatness is a transitory experience. It is never consistent. It depends in part upon the myth-making imagination of humankind. The person who experiences greatness must have a feeling for the myth he is in. He must reflect what is projected upon him. And he must have a strong sense of the sardonic. This is what uncouples him from belief in his own pretensions. The sardonic is all that permits him to move within himself. Without this quality, even occasional greatness will destroy a man”
- Frank Herbert (from the greatest novel ever written)
Hellstrom
Thanks, man. I appreciate you taking the time, and your passion for the film is abundantly clear. I’ll check it out as soon as I get the opportunity.
"Moriarty" out.
