Greendale

I turned this on last night, fully intending to watch something else within the half hour.

I had no idea what it was about or that it was a Neil Young musical. It did exactly what Neil Young's music has always done for me, start me off slow and suck me right in. By the end I could NOT sit down, I had to get up and dance. Great theme, wonderful message, terrific music. I can't wait to see it again. The filming itself was well done, a kind of perfected 8mm which reminded me of the era in which the director and myself were raised. I'm encouraging all my friends to see this, and already planning a group viewing.

I realize how it is with fans and super-fans. They love their artist and wish to find anything good or redeeming in their latest work. Even when it isn't really there. I've loved Neil's music since the olden days, yet I was not very entertained by this movie.

The music was essentially a one-off. He went into a studio with Crazy Horse (minus Pancho) and just dashed off a bunch of songs, recorded them, done. This has worked well for him on some of his past record albums, but all the electric songs sound the same here, and not really very good at all by NY-CH standards. The acoustic tune "What You Were Looking For" is OK, and the electric finisher "Be The River" is rousing and enjoyable (in large part thanks to the kids doing the chorus refrain).

The Story? It's there if you pay close attention, but I soon found myself not caring enough to try. As I felt that he didn't care enough either.

Neil Young's music is deceptively simple. At first there doesn't seem to be a lot going on...however in the end you'd be hard pressed to find more powerful or meaningful songwriting. If you agree with this statement, then there is a good bet that you will enjoy this film. If not...well you might wanna steer clear. I've seen a lot of negative comments on this film, and I guess it can be said that it is either a movie that you will either love, or be confused and put off. I personally loved it. You don't have to be a fan of Young's to enjoy this, but it would sure help,as there is no spoken dialog whatsoever...the story is told exclusively through the songs on the album. It is a bit confusing at first, but as Neil wrote in the liner notes "Don't feel bad if you feel a little out of it...I mean I wrote it and I don't know what the hell is going on" The grainy film seemed annoying at first, but quickly fits the mood of the film. And admittedly the "lip syncing" of the dialog seems a bit corny at first, but that is something you get used to as well. What you are left with is a story beautiful in it's simplicity. Can I explain why? I'm not sure...I found myself completly mesmerized by the film. The music never gets complicated, but is so damn addicting, I found myself bobbing my head througout the film. I had the album since it came out, but never fully appreciated it until I had the visual companion. Now the songs take on new meaning. It's hard to judge the cast since there isn't really any acting, but everyone plays their parts well. (I personally would like to see more of Sarah White) In the end, it's a simply shot movie about simple folk in a simple town, told entirely by "simple" songs...however like his albums, at the end of it all I was left sitting in awe at what I had just experienced.

Neil Young's companion film to his concept album of the same name is rendered in a grainy color 8mm silent film -- accompanied by the music of the album. The hook is that while the cast acts out the events of the songs, they lip sync to Young's vocals. The effect is at once strange, startling and somewhat boring. The production values are quite low, but the fidelity in image and setting is interestingly contrasted within the editorial content of the film. The story involves a family that is riven by violence and the gathering forces of media and government that exploit it. Young uses this situation and the bucolic town of "Greendale" to make an argument about the evolution of American life, the march of conservative politics and most particularly, the plight of the environment. After an hour of watching what mostly feels like Young's home movies, bumbling and blurry, he violently cuts to the razor sharp video images of the media descending upon the town. It's easy to dismiss this film as cheaply made and lazily conceived. But the film closes with the image of a newly-politicized young couple driving to Alaska to "save the Caribou" -- with the Devil hitching a ride. Young may be suggesting that in the end the terrible forces that rain down on "Greendale" ascended from there as well.

It's a strange movie, but I would heartily recommend it to people who either like or love Neil Young and are interested in experimental cinema. The story is thin (but there is one), yes, but it's definitely a mind-affecting experience.

The thing I took away from it most (apart from the obvious ecological message, but that's always been a theme of Young's) was the stylistic choice to film most of the scenes in extra-grainy Super 8, but to insert these highly-produced segments from (fictional) TV news stations and the like. It's a simple message, but a good one: Young's trying to tell us that the world we see on TV, even the allegedly real world of news, isn't real, and that we trust it at our peril. The real world is shaky, and blurry, and hard to make out sometimes. Anything that looks slick, and easy to understand, is probably fake.