George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011) Reviews

• Life of George

  Lejink2011-10-04

  Of course you'd have to be a fan to really appreciate Martin Scorcese's extensive re- telling of the life and times of George Harrison but I am and so I presume was everyone at the sold out screening of the movie tonight at the Glasgow Film Theatre. More assembled than directed of course, Scorcese takes us through the highs and occasional lows of the man's life without signposting anything too obviously so that the near four-hour viewing time rarely drags (it was broken by a half-hour intermission at the showing I attended) and I found myself rapt with attention. The film starts with a typically humorous, modest and elusive appearance by George seen between the flowers in his massive garden at Friar's Park, which mansion features so extensively in the footage shown that it should almost get a credit too. From there, Scorcese takes us on a linear journey dwelling on the major events in his life without markedly signposting the passage of time at any point, which I think helped the flow of the film. There was much archive photography and video footage which even a die-hard like me hadn't seen before, and the interviewees are well chosen and well edited, although I was surprised that say, Jeff Lynne or Michael Palin didn't get a look-in, although maybe Marty thought re. the latter that the presence of two other Pythons (Eric Idle and Terry Gilliam) was enough. The best of the interviewees are probably Gillam, Ringo and George's widow while the resemblance to his son Dhani is quite uncanny. The shock appearance of a now incarcerated Phil Spector, looking ridiculous in his "wig of the day" is controversial and prompted gales of laughter amongst the Glasgow crowd but he's actually surprisingly lucid. Yes perhaps Scorcese dwells too much on the Beatles time and omits his output from 1973 to 1988 almost totally - it was a mistake surely to not mark the sequence on Lennon's murder without playing even a snatch of "All Those Years Ago" and likewise to make no reference at all to his comeback hit single "Got My Mind Set On You" and parent album "Cloud Nine". Even so, while some may argue as to whether Harrison's own legacy deserves this Scorcese tribute in the wake of the great director's other recent homages to Dylan and the Stones, the fact that the audience I was among thought enough of what they had watched to spontaneously applaud at the end tells its own story, I think. As we near the tenth anniversary of his untimely death, I certainly enjoyed the movie and left convinced that George was a decent, not perfect man who while he may he have been the third most talented of the four Beatles, was more than worthy of this sincere and entertaining tribute.

  More

• A passionate and clear documentary

  tomgillespie20022011-10-20

  Martin Scorsese has throughout his career, made several labor of love documentaries mainly on the subject of another of his passions, music. In this one his focus is on "the quiet" Beatle. Harrison was always seen as completely secondary to Lennon and McCartney. However, in this film , Scorsese shows the complexity of his character. We see his very important contribution to The Beatles, not only through his own song writing, but also the elements that essentially made many of the Lennon/McCartney compositions. We follow him through his exploration of, particularly, Indian mysticism and philosophy, and how he integrated this into his everyday life. His contribution to the film industry is summarily gone over, from his involvement with Monty Python And The Holy Grail (1974), through to the creation of the production company, Handmade Films, that became involved in some of the great British films of the 1980's. What is apparent throughout the film is Scorsese's clear love of the music. Using still photographs, there are many sections that fill the three and a half hours with Harrison's songs. Scorsese uses these throughout, and presents them chronologically, so that we are able to witness the evolution of Harrison's song writing. A clear documentary made by someone passionate about the subject, the film paints a picture of a very interesting man, who lived through much change around and within himself. This is a very well researched, well constructed story, and whilst long, does not seem that way whilst viewing. www.the-wrath-of-blog.blogspot.com

  More

• Another one on the plus side for Scorsese, who always seems to deliver no matter what the project.

  Twins652011-10-18

  I have a few quibbles I'll get to in a bit which caused me to drop my rating a few notches, but all in all, if you're still interested in "The Fabs" 40+ years after they called it quits, do check this out. The nearly 3 1/2 hour total running time will seem like it flies by in less than your average 2 hour drama, with way more good stuff in it to take with you forever. I'll agree with the earlier commenter who wanted some sort of narration and/or screen type to fill in some of the blanks and move things along. I'd consider myself fairly knowledgeable in Beatles (and post-Beatles) lore, but I sure was stumped a couple of times: 1) what was the TV talk show (which had to be from the U.K.) and what were the circumstances surrounding George's litigation against Ringo? 2) what was the song and where was the studio shown late in the movie where Paul and George were singing on a track? 3) no current interviews from Jeff Lynne and Robert Zimmerman 4) No clip from the movie "Help" for "I Need You", in my opinion his best Beatles song behind "Something" 5) What was the final resolution of his film company, which produced a few gems among several films up through 1990? I'd also liked to have heard a bit more from Dhani, who seems extremely grounded despite growing up in tremendous wealth and having a father who was one of the most famous men on the planet. They must have done more than just garden together, right?

  More

• Great Tribute To Dear One

  denis8882011-11-06

  I was waiting for this movie so long. Now, I have watched this. I must admit - I was crying at the end of this great, deeply sympathetic, endearing, sincere, sweet eulogy to a great Master, George Harrison, who is not with us for 10 years now. When George died in 2001, I was in real shock. As if my father dies, or my best friend. Maybe, only Harrison produced such a tremendous effect on me as when he was no more, I cried a week. I was asking that year, Can anyone make a movie about him? Martin did. I loved every second of this great narration and was deeply touched by sincere confessions of Ringo, Paul, Eric, Tom, many others. When they cried, I wanted to weep too. George was really somebody special, different, enigmatic and profoundly great. Martin Scorcese made a real labor of love here, and all the rare footage and extremely great commentaries from Ravi, Idles, Gilliam or Patti and Olivia made this big movie a classic right now. Great work, A grade.

  More

• Much better than expected

  musicman-19972011-11-07

  I had very low expectations- I have seen so many movies about the Beatles and they all use the same tired old video clips we've all seen a million times. Much to my surprise, most of the material was fresh , amazing material that I'd never seen before.. with insights from Paul and Ringo that held me spellbound.. how George was introduced to John Lennon and the first song he played on top of a bus(watch the movie for the details) -just the little things you'd never know unless you saw the movie.. In my opinion, the first half was better than the second half, I think mostly because I knew how things would end... and I really, really didn't want it to end. But it did. I miss George and John. It was a fantastic movie.

  More