Customer Reviews

Rolling Stones: Sympathy For The Devil

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

one plus one is phenomenal stuff at least for one reason, which is that one of the 'ones' mentioned in the title refers to the Rolling Stones' recording of Sympathy for the Devil.
The experience is amazing. The viewer is taken into to the studio where Keith Richards literally composes the song, plays guitar, plays the bass, sings in the chorus and directs fellow backing vocalists (Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Marianne Faithfull). It is literally amazing to see how involved Keith was and how much he was leading the band.
But Keith's leadership is only half of the story. One plus one also tracks how Mick Jagger come up with the lyrics that have made this song so famous. The movie also makes it quite clear how alienated (and marginalized) was Brian Jones from the rest of the band.
The movie develops from the first chords (that Mick patiently shows to Brian Jones), to the session in which percussion where added, to those in which the piano was added, to those in which Keith plays bass, to those in which Keith improvizes few notes that would later become Sympathy-for-the-Devil-vintage-guitar-solo.
It's a great historical document and the music is quite excellent. One plus one is definitely worth watching.

What can I say? I was in Wal-Mart shopping for a last minute birthday present and this little oddity caught my eye. It aroused my curiosity, and the words of praise on the box made it seem so deep so artistic and Jean-Luc Godard wow I mean he is associated in my mind with highbrow film of the type which I usually dig so I bought it and called a few friends and said I had something that looked good and shouldn't we all congregate somewheres to enjoy this? Too bad this was the worst film ever made and there I was hyping it as the next Live at Pompeii or something. Well first the obligatory praise for the behind the scenes Stones footage that somehow seems to save the movie for most people. I love the Stones, and I admit it was interesting to watch what we have come to know as the song "Sympathy for the Devil" come together. But the buck stops here. Interspersed between the band footage are hodge-podge clips of what could be called "artistic political commentary", meaning in my book a sucession of disparate scenes connected by the thread of a Marxist narrative (as well as several having overt Marxist themes as well) with the intent of hopefully leaving the viewer with the ambiguous feeling that they have seen something that could have been artistic and the result of a grand vision unifying cinematic art with music and politics. But, judging from the other reviews left here, Godard missed his mark. Nobody was fooled by this one. With many other works of art I feel that if I have gained nothing from my interaction with it, then most of the blame lies with me. I was not being receptive enough, I was expecting something else and when I didn't get what I wanted I rejected the piece as a whole. I don't get that feeling with this. I don't think there is anything to get. It is not enjoyable. It is a waste of time. And this from a guy who likes Lou Reed's Metal Machine Music.

I have to admit, that both Gimme Shelter and the Rolling Stones Bridges to Babylon Tour Live in Concert '97-'98 DVD rate high for me. These two are classics that give us great performances by the Rolling Stones. Easy to follow, entertaining; and in the case of Gimme Shelter, though provoking.
What happened here? I originally bought the VHS version back in 1994 during the Stones hype of Voodoo Lounge. I do not have the DVD version. I do not want it. This is perhaps one of the worst films out there.
Don't get me wrong. I love the Stones footage of rehearsing the song. I can even see that the director may have been trying an avant garde film (or avant garde a clue, as the late George Harrison once remarked). Just because this is the Stones or "avant garde", does not make it any better.
Disjointed scenes of interviewing one woman about love, the black revolutionaries scene, and other hodgepodge of stuff make this unwatchable. C'mon. Give me a break. If I am watching Stones I want performance, interviews, or insight from the band themselves. I would have given this movie 1/2 a star(if I could have on Amazon) for at least seeing the Stones in part of it. I always like to give the benefit of the doubt to any artist that I like. In this case, avoid this "movie" at all costs.

A profound visual masterpiece describing the creative process like no other. Sure it avoids typical camera angles, numerous cuts, and trite superfluous information you'd see in other films about musicians. Feel lucky to be invited to experience a band in the midst of the creative process, a song from its most infant stage elevated and fine tuned in a grand crescendo. Jean Luc Godard was a film genius, artist, and cultural sponge. Who better to describe fleeting inspiration, on film and documented forever, for us all to see.

I was very disappointed, not only because of the hype and "mystic" surrounding this film and it's director, but also because it gives us a very clear view of how absolutely marginal the talent of the Stones as a band was/is. Save your money, or watch it at your friend's house - you'll only need to see it once, if you can sit through it at all...

Just how many times can one listen to half-assed versions of the same unfinished song? Well, for about three hours I suppose. Not only does the song never seem to end but it is also sandwiched between the avant-god-awful cinema of who-ever-the-hell the guy with the camera is.

word to the wise, buy this only if you want to torture yourself or your guests.

Poorly edited scenes of the band, with interjections of absurd sociological clips, accompanied with poorly recorded readings of pulp fiction.

I am a huge fan of the late 60s and early 70s era Stones. I bought this DVD without knowing anything about the French director Jean-Luc Godard. The so called "pop politiacal cartoons" that the review on the back cover refers to as sheer genius, are moronic and actually painful to watch. These skits are all about socialism, black power, and revolution. Oh boy! The high minded symbolism of this movie just looks ridiculous to me. The skits in this movie are so un-professional that they appear to be made by Junior High School kids! And that is a slight to the kids! As far as the Stones rehersals, they are interesting, but slow. They develop only the one song. As great as that song is (one of my all time favorite Stones tunes) it's just not something to watch over and over again. Especially if you have to endure the rest of this horrible movie.

At the time this film was made, Godard's reputation was as a great avant-garde artist while the Stones were mere pop singers. Thirty-odd years on, the roles are reversed. It can be seen that the Stones created something lasting while Godard's contributions to this movie are cinematically amateurish and politically primitive. Unfortunately Godard wasn't enough of an artist to appreciate the material he had, and so he keeps cutting away from the Stones to add various undergraduate-level film tricks. The net result is increased appreciation for the professionalism and discipline of the boys -- well, of Jagger, Richards, Wyman and Watts (Brian Jones is a silent, stoned presence playing inaudible rhythm guitar) -- because it contrasts so strongly with the lack of professionalism and discipline in the film itself.

Were we, the members of the "Woodstock Generation" really that STUPID, taking this "revolution" stuff literally? OK, were it not for the fact that Jean-Luc Goddard, the director of this thing, seemed hell-bent on inflicting footage of...I guess..."the upcoming revolution" or something, this would be fantastic. It's interesting to watch the Stones take their own sweet time, create the song. Initially, there's Mick, Keef, Brian (!), & Charlie doing a "well, we CERTAINLY don't have THIS together" version, with sideburned Nicky Hopkins trying to lay an organ part on what he hears. And, again, try to tune out the "revolutionary" segments, because the movie just keeps getting more and more interesting. There's Keef, swapping off with Bill, laying down a bass pattern; Brain finally getting so out of it that someone has to light his cigarette for him; both Keef and Mick are QUITE..."primed," you can almost smell the exotic tobacco in the studio. I have been told there there is a version of this movie available somewhere with the completed song, I haven't seen it. But I do enjoy watching Mick doing his "electric rooster" routine while laying down the vocal track, and right behind the sound-baffle, Keef and Anita (VERY much together), and a host of others are doing the OOH-OOH background vocals. Try to do the impossible and tune out the liberal gibberish. You'll be rewarded seeing the Stones create one of their very greatest songs. And let me know if you can get hold of the copy with the completed song.