Just watched this documentary (rented from iTunes), and was pretty impressed. Of course, I’m a fan of the band and was predisposed to like it, but my girlfriend isn’t, and she was in tears by the end. Don’t know if there are many Big Star fans on the board, but on the off-chance I thought I’d recommend it. No real insight into what made Alex Chilton tick (though I doubt anybody expected there to be), and not a lot of footage of the band during its original run (ditto), but I thought the filmmakers did a good job with what they had to work with.
Thanks for the suggestion. I as a fellow Big Star fan didn’t know about the film. Don’t know yet how I’m able to watch it, but I’ll look into it. I know the band’s music and some of their legend (and also much of their legacy), but never heard or read the whole story. As underrated as they were in their times, I think that they get the appreciation they deserve today
Well, in the U.S. at least, it’s available On Demand or as a rental from the iTunes movie store. Not sure about the rest of the world.
Well, I’m in Germany and had no luck so far finding the film on demand or for sale as DVD. There’s a chance that it’ll be shown on one of our public service TV channels, they sometimes broadcast this kind of documentaries (saw for instance an excellent film about Townes van Zandt there some time ago).
I rented it through iTunes and thought it was fantastic. It obviously suffers from the absence of Alex Chilton, who died in 2010, but they did a great job with the resources they had. (Though they did have interviews with the band’s original bassist, Andy Hummel, who passed away about four months after Chilton, so I don’t know if the filmmakers approached Chilton and he declined or whether they never got the chance to speak with him).
I would have liked more emphasis on the second record, which I think is their strongest, but that’s just a nitpick. And was more than made up for by the inclusion of Chilton and Bell’s post-Big Star work. If anything, I think the movie may help restore Bell as a driving force behind the band and not just a second fiddle to Chilton.
Does Jody Stephens contribute to the film?
Yep - Jody Stephens is really the only member who talks (a lot) about the band in the film (Andy Hummel had some screen time, but not nearly as much). From what I heard, Chilton did indeed decline to be interviewed for the movie.
It’s done the festival circuit here and has only now started to get any kind of real release in theaters - I’m sure it will be available in Europe (at least on DVD) by the end of the year.
Just back from some Boy Scout camping with The Boy. Really glad to hear its on On Demand - I will be hunting it down in the next day or so…
Hmm - I went onto my Verizon FiOS Video on Demand and couldn’t find it…will need to figure out what’s up.