Scorsese's new and upcoming documentaries

Scorsese's film focuses on the singer's revolutionary rise
The problem with understanding a music legend as massive, mythic and cryptic as Bob Dylan is that people tend to bite off more than they can chew, to scrutinize too much of his life at once. At least that's the compelling argument made by filmmaker Martin Scorsese in his revealing new documentary, "No Direction Home." This part reminded me of the scene of Hughes at the Senate hearings in The Aviator. Some of Scorsese's best work arrives in the last half of Part 2. With craftily edited press-conference footage from a 1966 European tour, the viewer not only sees but feels how being "pressed and hammered and expected to answer questions" all but guaranteed Dylan's retreat. The click and whir of cameras becomes deafening. Dylan blinks in the constant glare of flashbulbs. He rubs his eyes and looks more and more exhausted from one setting to the next. Gives increasingly -*test*-('")y answers to increasingly insipid questions. Simple text on a screen announces Dylan's motorcycle crash in July 1966 and his subsequent eight-year break from the road. In one of the press conferences shown in the documentary, a young Dylan is asked to explain his "role." He replies, "Stay here as long as I can." Gee...you gotta LOVE Dylan! Here's the link: http://desmoinesregister.com/

Has anyone seen it yet? Gotta agree with Virgo's quote lots of similarities to The Aviator/Howard Hughes..in the first half anyway. Also that little smirk he gives when he says those girls "brought out the poet in me" his expression reminded me so much of Marty in his personal Journey documentary when he talks about "giving into temptation" and removing pages from a library book. :lol:

Robert Zimmerman
I just ADORED part one last night! Such a GREAT story & ALL done so well. I MOST LOVED hearing Dylan talk about his Life. Loved Dylan's expressions, Love his eyes, & the words he chose. He must be in his middle 60's & he's still does everything SO COOL-LY! LOVE Dylan's face...the young one AND the older face maybe even more. LOTS of miles on it. Just because this board is about The Departed... two things stuck out to me last night. 1. Early in the show...there was some shots of Hibbings, Minnesota where Dylan grew up. There was a shot of a building..."Leo's Food Market". 2. Liam Clancy, a robust Irish folksinger (he reminded me of Monk in GONY) described Dylan as a shape shifter...someone who could completely embody a character...even down to the accent. In The Aviator DVD extras, Scorsese describes DiCaprio as a 'shape shifter' in the way he totally 'became' Howard Hughes. And I thought that was a pretty cool coincidence. I'm really looking forward to part 2...TONIGHT! Just a few hours from now. HOPE all of you get a chance to see NDH. It's a GREAT story & MUCHO EXCELLENT & BRILLIANT music.

No Direction Home
No Direction Home is another example of Scorsese’s great filmmaking style. Using Dylan’s own conversational-style narration mixed with b&w footage of places, history, and events from his early life, live music, and present day interviews about him Scorsese created an amazing documentary to watch. Using Dylan’s own words as a kind of narration was perfect. I loved the interviews with the folk singers and poets of Dylan’s early year like Dave Van Ronk, Joan Baez, Allen Ginsberg and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. And another Scorsese TA/No Direction Home similarity for me is this ~ With No Direction Home one of Scorsese’s goals may have been to introduce a new generation to the work and life of Bob Dylan or show those who know don’t know him or know him in a more narrow/biased way what an amazing musician, poet, and character Dylan is…much like one of Scorsese’s goals for Hughes in TA. Part two will be just as wonderful, I’m sure. And, again like Hughes, Scorsese ends the Dylan documentary in the early 60s, highlighting his early, creative work. “By focusing on Dylan's revolutionary rise prior to his motorcycle accident in 1966, and by ignoring the rest, we get to digest the icon's essential character as it's built brick by brick.” Also very coincidentally, Dylan became more reclusive in his later years. virgo, thanks for the interesting article. It’s a great summary of the show and a good read right before part last night.

I found "No Direction Home" to be very moving, something I didn't expect. As someone who came of age under Reagan in the 1980's, I felt this longing to have experienced that time, in the early 1960's, all that hope and energy. And the part where Allen Ginsberg comments on the "passing of the torch," and his voice sort of breaks. I liked how Dylan would not compromise, even though you know it hurt him when the fans booed (although he joked at it). I kept thinking about how young he was. When the movie ends in 1966, he was only 25. Great quotes.

Loved Dylan's expressions, Love his eyes, & the words he chose. Also that little smirk he gives when he says those girls "brought out the poet in me"He looks right into the camera when he says this. In the post-show interview with Charlie Rose on PBS, Scorsese says that sometimes he chose particular Dylan clips for the expression in his eyes rather than for what he was saying. 2. Liam Clancy, a robust Irish folksinger (he reminded me of Monk in GONY) described Dylan as a shape shifter...someone who could completely embody a character...even down to the accent.He reminded me of William Shatner. :lol: If I remember correctly, Clancy's version of New York Girls influenced Finbar Furey's on the GONY soundtrack. Is it just me, or does "It's alright, Ma" sound like it could've been written today as a rap? I never really listened to Dylan's music before. Before watching this film, I just thought of him as that guy with the funny singing style. So I just approached the film and this Dylan character as just that: a character. Not surprisingly, the first half of the film spent lots of time on the folk music world, sometimes leaving the Dylan character in the background for like ten minutes at a time. Scorsese has does this often, focusing on the environment that informs the characters. The first half hours of The Age of Innocence and Casino are largely about that, because in Scorsese's world you can't separate the two, environment and character. His films are about worlds more often than they are about plot. Consequently, the other characters that motivated and influenced Dylan, the people and culture all around him were also the story Scorsese was telling in No Direction Home. A key moment of the film for me is when Studs Terkel tells Dylan quite matter-of-factly that a song is obviously about atomic rain, ie, atomic fallout. "No," Dylan answers, "It's a HARD rain." What you get out of it, is what you bring into it, even if Dylan himself claims to not know what the hell he's writing about. This all ties into people like Ginsberg and others who discuss Dylan being a force of nature who did what he did because he HAD to. Even Scorsese (who has a cameo in the film as Dylan's voice!) in the post-show mentions this trait as that which personifies genius. The film also suggests that Dylan's timelessness is the result of his being a "musical expeditionary," which is the way Dylan classified himself in the film. It may be too facile, but I can imagine someone using No Direction Home's structure for a doc on Scorsese's life. But instead of the 1966 European tour where Dylan's folk roots were supposedly betrayed for rock and roll, you could use The Aviator and The Departed as the starting off point where Scorsese goes electric, ie, commercial. Both men were castigated for moving forward. And Dylan was all about moving forward. All about it. In the Rose interview, Scorsese ridicules people who complain about artists only having three or four good books or films in them. If you think like that, he said, you won't appreciate the journey an artist takes. A couple of things about technical issues... Why the hell did they censor four-letter words and the word "god" but left in the "N" word? I assume this was just for the PBS airing, but it's beyond censorship and goes into editorializing. It disgusted me in the way that the broadcast TV version of Casino changed "Jew motherf***er" to "Jew moneylover." This inane censorship totally ruined the funniest moment of the film: Joan Baez doing her impression of Dylan doing his impression of Beavis and Butthead. :lol: It was bleeped to death. Also, did anyone notice the flub during the first "When the ship comes in" (I found that song particularly moving) sequence that the titles on the screen mentioned the "intergration" of the army in Oxford, Miss. And on a personal note, I'd like to see Shakira remake that Odetta song. :-)

Just a few quick random thoughts and first impressions. He reminded me of William Shatner. :lol: Yes me too! Is it just me, or does "It's alright, Ma" sound like it could've been written today as a rap? I never really listened to Dylan's music before. I've never listened to him much either but I kept thinking how his singing, which veered wildly in and out of tune in on the same word was like a rap or in some cases like a stream of conciousness. It was if he channelled the words without paying any attention to them at all. And his pace of work was so FAST! I liked Joan Baez story about the hotel room and how he wrote Masters of War? in anger after that. There seemed to be a lot of anger in him but it only came out in the music. Also that look on his face when he sang, like he was somewhere else. I also thought "what would Simon Cowell say if he turned up on Pop Idol.:lol: I thought the people who asked him questions were so crass, much like in the Sex Pistols Documentary "The Filth and the Fury". He was 20 years old why on earth assume he has all the answers or any answers? Also when others like Lennon around the same time started to make political comments through music they were often ridiculed and criticised for it. Not providing answers suddenly seems like a very smart move. This all ties into people like Ginsberg and others who discuss Dylan being a force of nature who did what he did because he HAD to. Even Scorsese (who has a cameo in the film as Dylan's voice!) in the post-show mentions this trait as that which personifies genius. Whenever "Like a Rolling Stone" played I had this vision of Lionel Dobie pouring body heart and soul into his canvas while that song belts out loud. And remembering that he painted because he HAD to. "No choice but to do it" It's something that comes out time and time again in Scorsese's work and the parrallels between Scorsese and Dylan were constantly coming to mind. Scorsese's voice sounded incongrous saying Dylan's words but the meaning was very clear. In the Rose interview, Scorsese ridicules people who complain about artists only having three or four good books or films in them. If you think like that, he said, you won't appreciate the journey an artist takes. I thought the complaints made in the second part about Dylan changing and audience demands that he play 'acoustic' were like those of people who complain that Scorsese doesn't do what he's best at anymore ..gangster movies! As if an artist should always stay the same and continue to tread and retread the same old ground until the audience is bored and ready to move on. A couple of things about technical issues... Why the hell did they censor four-letter words and the word "god" but left in the "N" word? I assume this was just for the PBS airing, but it's beyond censorship and goes into editorializing. Luckily for me the BBC went for the uncensored version. I think you only get beeped now if it's before the 9pm watershed.

Objection Tango
A key moment of the film for me is when Studs Terkel tells Dylan quite matter-of-factly that a song is obviously about atomic rain, ie, atomic fallout. "No," Dylan answers, "It's a HARD rain." What you get out of it, is what you bring into it, even if Dylan himself claims to not know what the hell he's writing about. This all ties into people like Ginsberg and others who discuss Dylan being a force of nature who did what he did because he HAD to. Even Scorsese (who has a cameo in the film as Dylan's voice!) in the post-show mentions this trait as that which personifies genius. The film also suggests that Dylan's timelessness is the result of his being a "musical expeditionary," which is the way Dylan classified himself in the film. Yeah... I think Scorsese got it exactly right when he used 'genius' & 'Bob Dylan' in the same sentence. And Dylan's the definitive 'true artist'. True to himself & true to his Art. The true artist isn't doing it for the money. And...isn't doing it for public praise or even recognition. And the true artist doesn't worry about making mistakes or doing it wrong. A lot of the time...it's just 'instinct' that drives you. The true artist just keeps pushing onward & evolving... because he has to. And the true artist doesn't like to be pigeon-holed into a specific category. And I know we've discussed this before a few times. It's just about getting your message out to as many people as possible. If it resonates in people, if it stikes a chord...great. If it doesn't...the true artist is still going to do what he feels inside he has to do. I LOVED the part last night when Dylan said he wrote songs very fast because it was new to him. And he wrote anywhere...subways, diners, he even wrote when he was having conversations with other people. He could do that. And eveything influenced him. He was completely open to everything. I LOVED the beginning of part 2 last night... the bit Dylan did with the storefront signs. Such a free spirit. And he was just a common man. Never pretentious & never acted like he held all the answers or like he knew everything. He just remained true to himself & he could care less what people thought about him. And he didn't care if the audience booed him or applauded him. Okay...speaking of Shakira, I gotta do the Objection Tango about this: ...does"It's alright, Ma" sound like it could've been written today as a rap? I never really listened to Dylan's music before. Nuh-uh. No way...& that's just my opinion. And I've got LOTS of Dylan's music. He's been a favorite of mine for many years. Absolutely Dylan's music IS timeless but I'm definitely not hearing it as rap music. His music is as valid today as it was in the 60's. And Dylan's music will probably still be valid 50 years from now too. Dylan's passionate enough...maybe even more passionate than any rapper I can think of...but not that angry. And Dylan's got that unique ability to mingle both an urban & a rural 'every man' quality in his stuff. I think Springsteen can do that too. (And I don't know a lot about Woody Guthrie...but from watching NDH... I think Guthrie probably did that very well in much of his music.) I think of rap as being strictly urban 'big city' music. And I think of rap music (& I guess rap musicians) as relying too much on the music...heavy beats & lots of emphasis on the musical instruments. One of the ultimate COOL things about Dylan was just this GORGEOUS streamlined music. I mean...of course the traditional folk stuff (a JOY to watch just this lone man playing his guitar & harmonica around his neck & just belting out his song)...but even when he added the electric guitars & drums to his lyrics. Just seemed to be enough music there, ya know what I mean? Never overdone. BTW...I've ALWAYS LOVED Dylan's unique voice. You can hear Dylan & even if you've never heard the song before... you just know immediately it's Dylan. And...Dylan's got a really beautiful face. Almost angelic in a way. Also...LOVED the way Scorsese talked with Charlie Rose about why the title "No Direction Home" was chosen. Oh...My favorite line last night: "I'd dance with you but my hand's on fire."

And for the first time on DVD...
I meant to add this... For the First Time on DVD: "Festival!" the Newport Folk Festival Film (1963 - 1966) Captures Dylan, Baez, Peter, Paul & Mary and Legendary Folk, Blues and Country Artists Participating in the Birth of 60s Counterculture. To be released this Fall. http://biz.yahoo.com/iw/050927/096290.html

Joan Baez -*test*-('")s TV's language limits DAVID BAUDER Associated Press NEW YORK - Another musician has -*test*-('")ed the tolerance level for bad language on prime-time television, but she's no raucous rock star. Would you believe it's Joan Baez? The 64-year-old folkie was interviewed as part of "Bob Dylan: No Direction Home," the two-part "American Masters" series directed by Martin Scorsese that aired this week on PBS. She talked about how frustrating Dylan could often be for fellow musicians, using the F-word. PBS said both "clean" and unedited versions of the film were sent out to its 349 stations, leaving it up to the local station managers to decide their community's tolerance for language. To the best of her knowledge, only New York's WNET-TV - the nation's largest TV market and Scorsese's hometown - aired the unedited version, PBS spokeswoman Lee Sloan said Wednesday. WNET spokeswoman Debra Falk said the station decided to use it because the language was not gratuitous and fit into the context of the film. Both nights of the film began with the warning: "The following program contains strong language. Viewer discretion is advised." U2 frontman Bono sparked a Federal Communications Commission probe last year when he used the same word on a live Golden Globe Awards broadcast carried by NBC. NBC also banned Motley Crue from the network after band member Vince Neil used an expletive during a New Year's Eve "Tonight" show broadcast. The first night of the Dylan film averaged 3.6 million viewers Monday - a strong number for PBS.

Would you believe it's Joan Baez?....Absolutely!
Arnz, thanks for the “language limits”. After some of the stuff I see on TV, bleeping a word never makes sense to me! Very good to read this about No Direction Home ~ The first night of the Dylan film averaged 3.6 million viewers. And about part 2: First…. Yes, loved seeing Marty’s “part” in the Dylan documentary. What better part than the voice of Dylan himself! You can just recognize that voice right away. Great to see so much of The Band….Dylan’s early back-up band before they went out on their own…in part 2. I can’t praise The Last Waltz Scorsese did with The Band enough. If you’ve seen The Band docu, it’s so interesting watching the young Scorsese at work and think how far he’s come by staying true to himself too…. or “doing what he did because he HAD to” also! And Marty would have been around Dylan for some of that docu too since Dylan was on stage with The Band for some of their last concert. Guess Scorsese never thought he’d be doing a documentary on Dylan so many years later! The other amazing thing about part 2 was seeing how, in just a few years, Dylan grew so much as an artist, someone so confident on stage, and someone who wrote all his material after soaking up all the folk music he could find and doing the music of other artists. Loved the “relationship” between Dylan and Baez. Way too complicated to even begin to try to figure out! But Dylan angry? I never thought of Dylan as an angry man or an angry artist. I think I’ve heard every song Bob ever wrote and not once did the word angry enter my mind. Quite the opposite. If his anger showed in his music I think he would have followed it up by joining all the pro-*test*-('") events his colleagues wanted him to do. Instead he moved on to other topics, other music. His lyrics/poetry were his expression of the events of the times, nothing more. An angry man would never have written so many of the off beat, funny, word-play lyrics he also did. I have nearly everything he’s done and there are songs like this scattered on many of his recordings. Even the boos, rude fan comments and ridiculous questions didn’t seem to make him angry…. amused/confused maybe, but not angry. Scorsese has does this often, focusing on the environment that informs the characters. Consequently, the other characters that motivated and influenced Dylan, the people and culture all around him were also the story Scorsese was telling in No Direction Home. Yeah Arnz, that’s exactly what I meant when I said above…. “Using Dylan’s own conversational-style narration mixed with b&w footage of places, history, and events from his early life, live music, and present day interviews about him Scorsese created an amazing documentary to watch. Using Dylan’s own words as a kind of narration was perfect.” Scorsese mentioned to Rose that he wanted to show the JFK assassination in a “different way”. Think he told Dylan’s whole story in a different way. You learned more through the other footage than you would have hearing Dylan speak for 4 hours. The parallels between Hughes and Dylan are still coming to me. The description of Dylan as “a force of nature who did what he did because he HAD to” and the comments from people who said Dylan would never let himself be predictable, follow the path expected of him describes Hughes well too. And bringing DiCaprio into this may not be very popular here, but I see it as a great description of Leo also…particularly with his art and the film choices he makes. I have to admire anyone who doesn’t become a “joiner” just because they’re expected to or it seems the thing to do. Sure it can make things easier, even bring popularity….it would have for Dylan. Yet he resisted, stayed true to himself, refused to play their games. I thought Scorsese’s comment to Rose about wanting to get the idea of taking your own path and resisting manipulation across to young people was well achieved with his Dylan documentary. It’s a great message for everyone to learn and carry through life.

Dylan: The sequel
Well...I'm LOVIN' this!!! Dylan: 'The sequel' Bob Dylan is holding talks with the makers of his acclaimed "No Direction Home" documentary about making a sequel, it has been confirmed. The two-part film, broadcast in the UK and America this week, was directed by Martin Scorsese and followed Dylan's career up until 1966. Featuring a wealth of material on the rock'n'roll legend never before seen, including the infamous "Judas" moment at a gig in Manchester, the makers are now planning on completing the story. Susan Lacy, executive producer of Scorsese's two-part film, has revealed that "preliminary discussions" are already taking place. Speaking during a webchat with Dylan fans, Lacy said: "We are having preliminary discussions about that. We are researching that right now. "There's not as much material and it's not as dense as the material we had from the sixties. There are big gaps in it." According to Lacy, TV ratings for the programme were "fabulous" in both the UK and America. "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" will be released on DVD on October 03. http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/

Dylan record sales go through the roof!
I read this over the weekend & think it's pretty COOL! Just one more thing to LOVE about Martin Scorsese! Bob Dylan record sales go through the roof!!! There's an "enormous renewed increase in his work", according to experts Bob Dylan is enjoying a tenfold increase in album sales following the recent flurry of media attention. And experts at retailer HMV reckon it is the biggest hike in the folk hero's five-decade career. The renewed interest in Dylan is in part due to Martin Scorsese's two-part documentary, 'No Direction Home', which was screened in the UK on BBC2 this week. HMV Head Of Music Phil Penman said: "These are the largest increases we've seen with Dylan's catalogue for many years. As with other music icons, such as Elvis, The Beatles and Sinatra, Dylan has a significant fanbase and his recordings will always sell. "In September, however, there has been an enormous renewed increase in his work, with HMV stores throughout the country reporting substantial increases in sales of his catalogue." Virtually all of Dylan's catalogue has seen an upturn in sales, the most dramatic being last year's compilation 'The Essential Bob Dylan'. http://www.nme.com/news/elvis-presley/21130 http://uk.news.launch.yahoo.com/

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