Shane

This is one of the best documentaries about a musical artist that I have ever seen. An absolute must watch, regardless of whether you are a fan of Shane McGowan and The Pogues.

Shane MaGowan infused Irish folk music with a punk attitude and took it into the charts. But 'Crock of Gold', a look into his life, is hard viewing at times. It's imaginitively made, and there's interest in the story, but it's basically reverential tone (epitomised by the appearances of Johhny Depp, who produced the film, and an obsequious Gerry Adams) can't hide the fact that this is the story of an intelligent man who has spent his life drinking himself towards death. His own story of his primitive background is hard to sqaure with the normal appearances of his parents and his sister. Something clearly happened to screw him up; and it's hard to celebrate the result. Some artists truly live their music; but if your music is the story of drunkards and losers, that's not a happy form of authenticity. I wish Shane well, but at heart this is a grim tale

A great documentary! Not to be missed ! Bravo ! A masterpiece.

Definitely the best music docu I've ever seen. Really thorough look into Shane's life from being a wee boy, God knows how he survived! I'll be honest & admit I'm not a huge fan of The Pogues music but found myself singing along and swaying on my chair, I just got lost in the magic of it all. This has got to win some sort of award. It's incredible! Well done to Shane, Victoria, Johnny, Stephen & Julien. 10 out of 10.

"Crock of Gold: A Few Rounds with Shane MacGowan" came on suddenly on ARTE after Shane MacGowan's passing.

Reading the name Julien Temple made the reviewer very happy, since we are a big fan of his work. The film features some of the Pogues & Shane's timeless extraordinary music. But the artist himself says a couple of times that he might not agree to all the footage and at times even wonders, if the cameras were rolling. Having had the honor of hanging out with Shane in the early days I feel bad for him about the editing of the film. Some shots seem too long and some footage I rather would have not seen, since it seems very intimate. Also not a great fan of some of the cartoons. Shane's music and the Pogues & Popes make up for it, so turn it way up and maybe just take a listen to the lovely tunes. I very much do like the archival footage & background info. Well done!