Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen

From what I gather in this documentary he was not even a renowned singer and musician yet by which the world knows him today and yet he was already a star. Here we got Cohen the novelist and poet and ever wanderer like a little boy, although he already had his share of admirers. I love this guy very much. He is a living genius. The soul can always relate to Cohen. He is fit enough to write an extension to the Bible. Cohen is my guardian angel and teacher, guru and mentor, there is something of an oracle in his voice. What makes him so great is his honesty. That is also what drives the ladies mad about him too. cohen's work however is not just simply romantic. It reaches certain depths which in the modern day love song is nowhere to be found.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Mr. Leonard Cohen (1965)

*** (out of 4)

This early documentary on Leonard Cohen is quite interesting to watch today because it takes a look at the now legendary musician before he was a musician. The documentary basically captures Cohen as a poet and we get to see his stand-up act, which is a little better than you might expect as well as several other moments where he just rambles about various thoughts he has.

I'm not going to call this film a masterpiece because it's certainly not but at the same time it's a fairly fascinating look at Cohen that fans of his will probably love. I thought the film was certainly influenced by DON'T LOOK BACK but it doesn't have the same great filmmaking that the Dylan documentary did. With that said, there's no question that Cohen manages to grab your attention and hold it throughout the short 45-minute running time.

Leonard can write lyrics, but he sure can't sing. Nor has he had an original idea in his life, just a floater. From the looks of this nasty little puff piece (note that his publishers, McClelland and Stewart were involved in the production), he didn't know how to live, either. The woman he loves is only mentioned in passing and no woman is allowed to speak in this nonsensical advertisement. While Irving Layton was given a credit, the other poet interviewed, Earle Birney, was to remain nameless. I come from the generation just after Cohen, where all the boys seemed to idolize him. His lack of commitment was probably just calling to them. I hadn't realized what a disappointing poseur he was back then. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt because of his age.

Whiny, little rich prince, and not one memorable line in his oeuvre. No dedication to social change, outside of the sexual arena.

You don't speak for my generation, Lennie, and not for my gender. Go back to the monastery and stay off the screen.

As for my local public broadcaster, I will let them know what I think of them wasting my time on this guy. Not a has-been, a never was...

Produced in 1965, this 45-minute promo for the then youthful looking Leonard Cohen functions now as a faded cinematic snapshot of the man who, in the forty years since the promo was made, has evolved into Planet Earth's greatest living poet and songwriter.

With a jazzy musical score, this B&W tape narrates a kind of "day in the life of" theme. It captures to some extent the man's personality which, surprisingly, exuded considerable humor, vis-a-vis the dire morbidity for which he has since become known. Of course, Western culture in the 1960s was friendlier to poets generally. In recent decades, particularly in the U.S., many people have become overtly hostile toward all things intellectual. In point of fact, Cohen's works have never been as popular in the U.S. as they have been in Europe and Canada. The U.S. aside, Cohen's worldwide popularity and longevity speak volumes about his talent, and remind me of the ongoing popularity of a similar 1960's talent: the Moody Blues.

Some comments that Cohen makes in the film may raise eyebrows or seem contradictory. But that speaks as much to our current day obsession with logic, rigid analysis, and materialism as it does to Cohen's remarks. Trying to "analyze" poets or poetry is useless, and represents a fundamental misunderstanding of what poetry is all about.

I believe that it was Benjamin Disraeli who said "the poet is the painter of the soul". In our current arid and more or less "soul-less" culture, Leonard Cohen gives to us a wonderfully unique way of seeing the world, a loftier point of view, based on truth, sensitivity, and intuition. This 45-minute "filmmette" is a must-see for people who are thus receptive to uncommon insight from an uncommon man.

Jazzy portrait of the artist as a young poet, it's fascinating to see this glimpse of the pre-pop singer Cohen. Whether he's self-effacing, full of himself, or both is up for debate, and we can't gather much of why he's in the poetry biz besides for the purpose of meeting girls. (There's a wonderful CanCon moment where, on some stereotypical CBC panel discussion program, Pierre Burton grills him on this point, and Cohen refuses to play along).

While it is a nice time capsule of Montreal in the early '60s, whether or not you enjoy this depends on how you feel about L.C., and about the possibility of poetry embiggining the human spirit. Myself, I'm a bit of a sucker for it.

Black and white, 44 minutes. Rating: 5 out of 10 (average).