When You're Strange

After seeing Oliver Stone's version several times over the years, I was, at first, not sure this would interest me. It did very much interest me. I was born in 1960 and I grew up in this era. I had the doors albums, but did not ever see them live. I felt this doc had fresh information; especially rare footage and the bands musical background and how they improvised and contributed to the songs and concerts. If you do not know things about Jim, you do not understand his drives to the dessert and his witnessing things die, and what that death meant to him and how fascinated he was and he wrote about it. For those who say there was not music, you are all out of your minds. There was non-stop music. Really? Would be nice to hear an interview? Frankly, as a psychologist and documentarian, none of the interviews would be very valuable, as the press are morons and ask the most inane questions that infuriate me and the musicians. So instead maybe more of his poetry. But I believe they did the best they could with the footage they had, real footage; which I greatly appreciated. I think if you are curious or a fan, this is a must see.

"When You're Strange" recounts quite well the history of the 1960s rock band "The Doors" and its famous, charismatic vocalist Jim Morrison. Using archival and backstage footage, some early home pictures of Morrison, and integrating a history of the band's roots and rocky ride with then-current social upheavals, the film conveys all the chaos, change, and creativity that marked that turbulent era.

Some of the narrative retells information that the band's devotees have known for decades, like the origin of the name "The Doors", a reference to Aldous Huxley's 1954 book "The Doors Of Perception". And the very first song Robby Krieger wrote was "Light My Fire". But old details can be informative to new fans.

The film's choppy structure probably had some symbolic significance. But the first five minutes seemed unnecessary. And I could have done without the scenes of Morrison driving a car through the desert, which seemed irrelevant and out of context.

As someone who has been mesmerized by The Doors for a long time, I don't think I learned anything new. Yet, the never-before-seen visuals, Morrison's on-stage performances and backstage personality, combined with all that strange music, at times carnivalesque and at other times bluesy, were enormously interesting. About midway through, Morrison comes across best, as he sings "Touch Me", accompanied by an orchestra.

What's disconcerting is the change in Morrison. He starts out innocent and shy, then quickly morphs into an outrageous showman. His indulgence in drugs and hard drinking did him no favors. However, that over-the-edge artistic style was common in the 1960s. And death arrived at the early age of 27 not only for Morrison, but also for Janis Joplin, Brian Jones, Jimi Hendrix, and Morrison's girlfriend, Pamela Courson.

Forty years after his death, Jim Morrison still fascinates people. Part of that derives from his untimely death. But I think he and The Doors resonate today because they were musical poets, social revolutionaries who saw the inhumanity and evil in the world, and tried to change it, through music. With maybe a couple of exceptions, we do not now have comparably influential poets. Jim Morrison and The Doors call to us from the past.

When You're Strange is made up of all archival footage, clips taken from some famous scenes (i.e. Ed Sullivan Show appearance, intro's at the airport, infamous concert) and not-so-famous ones (clips from the rarely seen films Highway and Feast of Friends are seen here), and it's done in what could be called objectively adulatory. That might not make sense, but what Tom DiCillo wants to show is what the Doors were like, the times they were in, and what was up with their frontman, Jim Morrison, who was with the band for five years before dying one night in a bathtub under mysterious circumstances. At the same time as he's giving us the facts via narration read by Johnny Depp, and with the footage, he wants the audience to see what was so unique about the Doors, their strange appeal as rock figures unlike anyone else at the time; there were other hippie-rock bands, and other poets, and other blues bands, but not quite in this combination.

For the newcomers, the documentary basically tells you everything you need to know, or would care to know, about Jim Morrison and the Doors. I mention his name first because, as a liability with the documentary for fans, it doesn't really go that much into the other members' lives at the time. Perhaps DiCillo saw that not a lot of interest was really there with Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger and John Densmore (comparatively to Jim, the documentary might tell us, they were very much normal, save for trading off from acid to meditation), or that Morrison is such a dynamic figure- an icon to some, just another wasted rocker to others- that he'd have to take up the screen time. A similar issue could be taken with Oliver Stone's bio-pic - on the other hand, as the film makes pretty clear, after Morrison died, the Doors were practically bust (the doc fails to mention that the band actually *did* go on to make a couple of albums in the 70's, both huge flops, and cynically tour a few years ago as "The 21st Century Doors", but I digress).

An issue can be taken with nothing too new being given to us historically about the band, and (more-so) that DiCillo frames it into the history we've seen so often: tumultuous times, upheaval of society, Johnson and Nixon's Vietnam and domestic policies, Kennedy and MLK assassinations and Charles Manson and Kent etc etc. But what works best is when we can focus on the band as a whole, what made them different, how they somehow gelled together as equal parts blues, poetry, psychedelia, jazz, rock, whatever, in how they approached the songs (no bass player for one thing) and how they recorded tracks. One of the more fascinating aspects is hearing how long the creative process took; their best albums took mere days to record (self-titled debut and LA Woman) while a mixed-bag of pop-tunes like The Soft Parade took nearly a year.

And in the middle, like a vortex of leather and hair and strikingly handsome (or as some might say "Hawt") lead figure, Jim Morrison takes up a lot of the airtime. He's an intriguing, baffling figure, how a man with such talent and natural charisma, as a singer and a writer, felt insecure about himself and also became "Jimbo" as Manzarek called him, a wild alter-ego on stage that made a split between those who wanted the Doors, and those that wanted to spectacle of "JIM". He doesn't come off too well as a person ultimately, as a philanderer and alcoholic and sometimes just cruel person... but at the end of it all, his creative output with the Doors in a few years amounted to more than some rock bands can get in decades of work. Again, this is nothing too new to realize, and some of the big facts are so well covered as to be like pop-legend. But DiCillo does a thorough job putting it altogether, and, substantively (if not as a visionary experience) it trumps Stone's film.

I attended a special screening of the music documentary "When You're Strange: A Film about The Doors" at the 2009 Los Angeles Film Festival. This was my 18th screening here and the first to be completely sold out.

Writer/director Tom DiCillo was able to gain access to original footage shot from 1966-71 by Paul Ferrara, a UCLA Film School buddy of flamboyant lead singer Jim Morrison. Those old, grainy films are all that were needed to make this stunning documentary -- no modern-day or additional footage was shot.

The dramatic voice-over was provided by Johnny Depp who, in a statement from DiCillo read prior to the screening, was the one person the filmmakers felt qualified to narrate the movie. It had to be someone with a passion for the music of The Doors, and Depp fit the bill.

With the assistance of the remaining living members, particularly band co-founder and keyboardist Ray Manzarek (who sat in front of me), the film is destined to be the definitive chronicle of the band's history. We finally discover the shocking truth behind the curious myths -- did Morrison really expose his genitals at that infamous Florida concert? Did he fake his own death? "When You're Strange" separates fact from fiction and puts to rest the many rumors surrounding the manic life and untimely death of Jim Morrison. The heretofore secret details behind the making of each amazing album (one took 11 months, another took less than a week) are mind-boggling. Naturally, there's plenty of music. Tons of it.

Like all music docs, the degree to which one connects with the film is directly proportional to one's familiarity with the music and/or artists featured in the production. This certainly applies here. Like some of the thrilling music documentaries I've seen at festivals in the past couple of years ("The U.S. vs. John Lennon," "Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing," "The Wrecking Crew," "Kurt Cobain About a Son"), I put "When You're Strange" right at the top of my list. I was blown away. However, while I walked away feeling that this was an absolutely brilliant film, I have to give it a qualified thumbs up if only because there is no doubt many simply won't have the emotional response that I did. But, for fans of this music, "When You're Strange" is absolutely a must-see.

I was able to see this at Sundance this morning. What an outstanding film!! By weaving original footage from many sources including takes from a movie Jim Morrison made himself Mr. DiCillo presents an intimate view of all the DOORS in the context of the 60's and early 70's. An intimate look at the complex relationships between Morrison and the other members and hugely entertaining. DiCillo spoke at the end of the movie and during the Q&A's he mentioned one critic accused him of "recreating" footage in the film. The supposed recreated footage was actually Morrisons own film starring himself. This rumor is extremely frustrating to DiCillo as it is spreading via the internet. See for yourself, this is a excellent movie. I asked DiCillo if he had cooperation from Morrison's family. He said he had a lot of help from Morrisons family especially on the relationship between Jim and his father. I hope someone picks it up for distribution. I'd go again.