The documentary is called “In the Court of the Crimson King - King Crimson at 50”. In my humble opinion, it is the best rock documentary ever made.
But it’s difficult to track down - despite being screened to rave reviews at SXSW 2022, it has never got a distribution deal, nor a long term streaming deal. I first saw it when it was streamed for a weekend in October, 2022, and I pre-ordered the 8 disc box set as soon as it was announced. It arrived in between Christmas and New Year’s, and I’ve been watching it obsessively ever since.
I’m curious if any of the other Crimson fans, or documentary fans on the SDMB have seen it, and what you thought of it.
This is something I badly want to see, but now realize it keeps falling off my list because I haven’t run across it on any of my streaming services. I watch little TV, and when I do, my mind becomes a blank endless expanse, devoid of any ideas of what I might want to watch.
This is the first I’ve heard about it, but I would definitely be interested in checking it out, given an opportunity. A quick search at Amazon finds a Blu-ray/DVD edition for $28.98, but I’m not prepared to spend that much.
I’ll watch out to see if ends up on a streaming service I subscribe to. I’m not necessarily investing too much into hoping for it, but who knows?
Discs 1 and 2 are the BluRay, discs 3 and 4 are DVDs. They contain the same material - Disc 1/3 is the film, 4 edits of the original draft under its working title “Cosmic Fukc - Prog Rock Pond Scum Set to Bum You Out”, the final performance of “Starless” live at Bunkamura, Tokyo, Dec. 8, 2021, three short films, and the trailer. Disc 2/4 is a film of the band in rehearsal at Tring Studios, King Crimson at “Rock in Rio”, and a 40 minute film of them backstage.
Discs 5 - 8 are audio CDs giving the full version of all the music referenced in the film, some of it in new remastered editions, some of it previously unavailable.
I do know that King Crimson is VERY picky about copyright issues. They won’t even allow YouTubers to show or discuss their own YT videos without prior permission.
(Found out about this from one of my favorite YouTubers, The Daily Doug, a professor of classical music who critiques metal and progressive bands. However, while the King Crimson video he did was up, I was impressed by THREE drummers at the front of the stage, playing in unison.)
Adrian Belew, who is still hurting from not being in the current lineup.
This is not a typical rock doc, in that they talk about the change of line up in the first year, and then just take it as read that the band changed line ups constantly. There’s not a lot of concert footage, there’s not much about the personal lives and relationships of anyone in the band, and there’s not a lot of detail about the musical structures and styles.
There is, however, an overwhelming sense of the dedication of the musicians and the devotion of the fans. There is a big focus on Robert Fripp, who is quite articulate about his philosophy of life and the discipline it takes for him to make his music. The viewer is left to make up their own mind as to whether he’s a tyrant, a prick, or a misunderstood genius.
I follow Adrian on Facebook as he has just the most incredible stories from his long and varied career. He’s said that he regrets participating in the documentary in that he gave two days of his time only to have a few short, negative comments included in the final film. Not representative of his actual feelings when put in context.
Now, that said, he also has been clear that he hasn’t heard anything from any incarnation of KC post his involvement, didn’t watch the documentary, and declined to go to a hometown KC show math at Fripp specifically invited him to last year.