Jagged

As "Jagged" (2021 release; 97 min.) opens, Alanis and her band are in their dressing room, moments before going onstage at another gig on the "Jagged Little Pill" tour. We then go to Alanis today, as she gets situated for being interviewed by the director, and Alanis starts talking about her upbringing in Ontario, Canada and how she became a Debbie Gibson-reminding pop star at age 15, only to abandon it all and restart in Los Angeles at age 19...

Couple of comments: this is the latest from up-and-coming but already well respected documentary director Alison Klayman ("The Brink"). Here she looks back at how Alanis reinvented herself from scratch for the "Jagged Little Pill" album. Alanis talks openly about being raped at age 15 in Canada (it's called "statutory rape", she says). Her musical partnership with producer Glen Ballard gets plenty of coverage. The film includes many other talking heads, such as Shirly Manson (Garbage), Taylor Hawkins (Foo Fighters, but he was the drummer on the Jagged tour) and others. There is plenty of concert footage of course. It's hard to believe that it's been 25 years ago. I all found it quite rollicking as a documentary. Alanis, who gave full cooperation during the filming, has now openly disavowed the film for being "reductive" and "salacious". Say what? Did Alanis and I watch the same documentary? I'm thinking this is just Alanis being Alanis.

"Jagged" opened this weekend on HBO as part of the "Music Box" documentary series. It is now available on HBO On Demand and on HBO Max (where I saw it), and eventually on other streaming platforms and DVD/Blu-ray. If you loved "Jagged Little Pill" and all that it stood for (and who doesn't?), I'd readily suggest you check this out, and draw your own conclusion.

Despite a lifetime working in pop music, radio and TV, I was late in joining the Alanis Morissette fan club. Whilst being aware of her music, it was not until SUCH PRETTY FORKS IN THE ROAD in 2020 that I realised what an extraordinary talent she is. So, I went in to view Jagged with a lot of love for her music, but little knowledge of her history and pop musical roots. I found her story a total revelation and absolutely compelling. The lady is a genius and her ability to express feelings through her music is rare and wonderful. The documentary is powerful and like Alanis's music it is absorbing. A must watch.

For all the controversy about Alanis being unhappy with the film and finding it "salacious," it's actually pretty dull. After the Woodstock '99 documentary, which was informative, entertaining, and did a great job contextualizing the events depicted, I had much higher hopes for this. Unfortunately, it's less of a documentary and more of a retrospective without a whole lot to say. The music is still great, though.

It started off so well then the #metoo movement high jacked it (which Alanis didn't sign up for) and it turned quickly into a how bad men are in the industry. Myself as a male in the nineties absolutely loved the album and still listen to it a lot to this day! She paved the way for women (and men) to make these kind of songs. She is, and always will be a trailblazer and unbelievably great addition to the music industry. She was exactly what was needed after the Nirvana grunge era and Taylor Hawkins going to the Foo Fighters just proves it. She's the type of person that you would love to have a drink & a discussion about music with.

Great doco, and nothing salacious about it. Could have gone much deeper but still worth a watch. No doubt there will be loads of blokes saying it's boring because it wasn't salacious enough - so watch it for feminism's sake ;-)