The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart

Beautiful, poignant and electric; "The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" is the music doc of the year and one that resonates so deeply beyond the music.

In this documentary, explore the history of the Bee Gees, featuring revealing interviews with oldest brother Barry Gibb, and archival interviews with the late twin brothers Robin and Maurice.

Profoundly effective in its storytelling through the music, this doc doesn't cheapen the hardships and circumstances that come with being a family band. Filmmaker Frank Marshall beautifully curates this story through interviews and never before seen footage. The scenes that take place in the studio are some of the most unforgettable moments in music history. This doc will make your parents relive memories with the popular band but it'll also take younger viewers on a trip they won't soon forget. An honest and heart-wrenching look at one of the greatest bands and songwriters in history.

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"The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart" (2020 release; 111 min.) is a documentary about the famed pop trio. As the documentary opens, we hear the disco-charging "Stayin' Alive" over the opening titles and then go straight into a live concert from 1979 in Oakland. We flash forward to "Miami 2019" as Barry Gibb, the only surviving member of the Gibb brothers, rues "My immediate family is gone". From there we go back in time to when the Gibb brothers were just young lads growing up on the Isle of Man before the family relocates to Australia. It is there that the lads find their first taste of success... At this point we are 10 min. into the documentary.

Couple of comments: this is the latest project from Frank Marshall, best known for his production work (including for Steven Spielberg), but here he directs what is clearly a labor of love about the long and complicated history of the Gibb brothers. If you ask anyone today what the Bee Gees stand for, almost certainly the answer will be "disco" or "Saturday Night Fever". And of course they were that, very much so. But as this delicious documentary reminds us, they were more than that, in fact so much more than that. It feels like the Bee Gees had, like cats, nine lives, or at least four or five (pre-SNF, the 1975-1981 disco era, the immediate post-disco era, and the latter days). Along the way we get treated to a bunch of archive footage that certainly I had never seen before, and of course also the 'talking heads', including Justin Timberlake, Eric Clapton and most interestingly Nick Jonas and Noel Gallagher, both of whom also performed as brothers in a band. There are some heavy duty moments in this documentary when we are reminded of the deaths of younger brother Andy Gibb (for whom the Bee Gees wrote a bunch of songs), and then twins Maurice (in 2003) and Robin (2012). But in the end the music prevails, and on that count, it still feels to me that the Bee Gees are underappreciated, even though they are rightly so in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. I love their disco stuff, but I equally love their late 60s/early 70s pre-disco output (think: "Massachusetts", "World", "I Started a Joke", "Words", etc.). Such great songs.

"The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" premiered this weekend on HBO and is now available on HBO on Demand and other streaming services. If you have any interest in the history of rock music, or are simply a fan of the Bee Gees, I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

My husband watched this without me and had to wake me up to tell me how amazingly interesting it was. He should have never done it. I've watched this at least 5 times in the past week alone and have now become re-obsessed with all things Bee Gees! I found the story so compelling due to the fact that The Bee Gees were just a normal part of everyday life, especially during Disco. I remember vividly the Disco Demolition at Comiskey Park and finding it so very humorous at the ripe age of 11. I am now apologizing directly to Barry Gibb for my immaturity. Their stunning talent combined with years and years of hard work is nothing to dismiss as is evident in this documentary. If you were like me in the late '70's and "forgot" The Bee Gees, I highly suggest you watch this. I promise Barry will forgive you for your childish past transgressions. The Brothers Gibb are to be revered!

What a wonderful documentary. The Gibb Brothers have provided some of the soundtrack of my life. This film centers their place in modern music history. They belong at the pinnacle. If you don't know their music, this provides an invaluable roadmap. It's all here. You won't be disappointed. What a deep pleasure.

I admit, I'm a rocker through and through. However, after watching this incredible documentary I have a much greater respect for The Bee Gees music and their incredible story. Credit is highly deserved to the filmmakers and their masterful editing of the best material available. This story had to be told because of pigheaded people like me.