User reviews

This documentary is so inspiring and drove me to write my first review. As a Woodstock attendee and Dylan fan, I thought this would be about making the legendary Basement Tapes. Instead, I became intimately familiar with the song making process through the souls of some talented and unguarded singers and songwriters. Everyone knows Elvis Costello and thanks to the film maker for not making this a gawk-fest (and thanks for not pointing out Johnny Depp's participation) but who of the "older generation" knows of Taylor Goldsmith, Jim James and Rhiannon Giddens...what a pity. And Marcus Mumford has an uncanny ability to attract listening.

The songs that came from "Big Pink" are anthems. But who knew that Bob was a compulsive writer and would translate what he felt about the day's news into a song. "Tears of Rage" about the nuclear detonation in China? I don't care what prompted him to write, but Bob Dylan's songs had that timeless quality and conveyed thoughtfulness about larger topics.

The collaboration in this film is magnificent and causes the viewer to muse about the true nature of a song...that the version we hear on a recording is just one of the many ways a song can be cast.

But what Ireally wanted to comment about is the process for Rhiannon Giddens, a woman who possesses a unique and soulful voice that is its own embellishment. As a woman, I have written songs and when I write it's only ONE song at a time. Rhiannon spoke my thoughts out loud when she said she could not generate more than one song at a time unlike her male collaborators who had mapped out several different songs in advance of the sessions, leading me to ponder the difference...could that be a sex-linked trait? I watched Rhiannon's shyness and reticence, her tendency to doubt herself until given full attention, the way she would pull herself out of the center of the action. She referred to herself as an amateur. Only when she was closely championed by Marcus Mumford (kudos) was she able to bring her doubts under control and look triumphant.

I was reminded of what a contribution Joni Mitchell was to my life and how brave and single-minded she needed to be to not only produce an album of her songs, but continue to grow and change in front of the public. I thought how much harder it is for woman and how rare it is for us to transition, like Madonna, or any woman performer, to automatically command attention (like Marcus Mumford).

So thanks to Sam Jones for this film, I will watch it again. Thanks for showing how T Bone Burnett is so skilled at "just hanging out" and how he can just get into the roller coaster car with each of the collaborators and coach them through their diversions.

And oh, by the way, beautiful instruments....fret-less banjo? Nice guitars, beautiful mandolin, great backup singers

IMHO

The documentary shows how each of the musicians tackles the task of creating songs from lyrics and poems unearthed from Bob Dylan archives-each with a different creative process and the attendant struggles of measuring up against the other songwriters in the room. The film casts some in a positive light (Mumford and Goldsmith coaxing a brilliant performance out of Giddens) and shows some in a negative light, as when Costello and James become schoolyard bullies, ridiculing some of the musicians. Overall, the viewer can see how the group jells and plays to each others' strengths, and the musical performances are tremendous.

A bunch of musicians you barely know (save Costello and maybe Burnett) get around and make up music to Dylan lyrics (more like scribbled poems), like we care.

It's a waste of video.