The Films of 2006
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tavernier
- Joined: Sat Apr 02, 2005 11:18 pm
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so lightly here
- Joined: Wed Apr 29, 2009 3:38 pm
Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (Stephen Kijak, 2006)
Been waiting to see this documentary about the reticent expatriate pop star Scott Engel/aka Walker for some time. It finally showed up and what a wasted opportunity. The doc is a mish-mashed array of styles, which in itself is a problem to watch. But more disappointing is the fact that Walker was talking and intelligently so, but too few interesting questions were being asked of him. There was what should have been an interesting lineup of talking heads including the executive producer David Bowie, along with Eno, Johnny Marr, Radiohead, Marc Almond (and more) but hardly a thought provoking comment from any of them.
The fact that the movie tried to make the claim that Mr. Walker's music has evolved into something new and unclassifiable was not backed up by any fact and seemed to denigrate Walker's earlier "Pop Music" (almost making it seem as if Pop Music cannot often be an art in and of itself). To make the claim that Scott Walker's recent work ("Tilt" and "The Drift") are so much ahead of the work he did with The Walker Brothers or his first four solo albums (Scott 1-4) seems a real stretch.
Like Dusty Springfield, his label mate, Walker and Springfield both worked with John Franz who pretty much let both of them do what they wanted. Even though both were securely in the arms of the pop world in the early parts of their careers both where strong personas who pretty much produced themselves and had unerring ears for diverse and interesting song choices (it didn't hurt that both had the best writers in the biz - i.e. Bararach & David, Mann & Weill).
It is too bad that this documentary didn't dive into more interesting questions about Walker. He, like Miss Springfield, always seemed uncomfortable in their roles. They recorded their early music before singers were taken very seriously, and both show signs of this in the way they managed to control their careers and retain a sense of self that most singers of that time found impossible to achieve. This uncomfortableness seems to come through in their often longing and aching singing styles.
Well, Dusty Springfield is dead but Mr. Walker is alive and perhaps still available for another try by some more curious director.
The fact that the movie tried to make the claim that Mr. Walker's music has evolved into something new and unclassifiable was not backed up by any fact and seemed to denigrate Walker's earlier "Pop Music" (almost making it seem as if Pop Music cannot often be an art in and of itself). To make the claim that Scott Walker's recent work ("Tilt" and "The Drift") are so much ahead of the work he did with The Walker Brothers or his first four solo albums (Scott 1-4) seems a real stretch.
Like Dusty Springfield, his label mate, Walker and Springfield both worked with John Franz who pretty much let both of them do what they wanted. Even though both were securely in the arms of the pop world in the early parts of their careers both where strong personas who pretty much produced themselves and had unerring ears for diverse and interesting song choices (it didn't hurt that both had the best writers in the biz - i.e. Bararach & David, Mann & Weill).
It is too bad that this documentary didn't dive into more interesting questions about Walker. He, like Miss Springfield, always seemed uncomfortable in their roles. They recorded their early music before singers were taken very seriously, and both show signs of this in the way they managed to control their careers and retain a sense of self that most singers of that time found impossible to achieve. This uncomfortableness seems to come through in their often longing and aching singing styles.
Well, Dusty Springfield is dead but Mr. Walker is alive and perhaps still available for another try by some more curious director.
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Matt
- Joined: Tue Nov 02, 2004 4:58 pm
Re: Scott Walker: 30 Century Man (Stephen Kijak, 2006)
I almost wish the movie was, in its entirety, what it featured in its first half: cool people sitting around and listening to Scott Walker records and commenting on what his music meant to them. I'd already heard so much "Oh my God, did you hear Scott Walker has a guy punching meat as percussion on the new album?" that to see it actually filmed made the barely funny joke completely unfunny.