Customer Reviews

Jane's Addiction - Three Days

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

 

 

After six years of hearing almost non-stop hype about this film--how it chronicled the group's enthusiasm and energy at the beginning of the reunion and degenerated into more drug-addled
friction by the end--actually seeing it was a slight anti-climax. The biggest complaint is that half of the songs are
incomplete--some are only shown for one or two minutes, while others like "Ted Just Admit It" are complete but cut up and
interspersed with interview footage. The title cut is almost complete--and an amazing, sensuous performance--but the last two minutes, the CLIMAX, are cut for no reason at all.

Because the priority of this film lies in the interviews and backstage madness rather than the music itself, one must ask if this was enough to justify the hype. Well, the interviews are OK, they concentrate mostly on Farrell (who is a scream sometimes, especially when he's pontificating on The Torah just after having had an orgy on-stage with ten backup dancers), although Navarro also gets some time to act like a silly rock star. Perkins and Flea are virtually ignored, although Flea does weigh in with some choice comments toward the end of the film, and emerges as the most likeable. There are a lot of celebrity cameos, like Vil Kilmer, Alyssa Milano, Anthony Keidis, etc. etc. and they enhance the celebratory nature of the tour, but nothing really pops out as essential except for a brief cameo by the legendary Ken Kesey and his Merry Pranksters in San Francisco. The group seem in their element in this city,
and it is when the film takes on a genuine freak/hippie vibe--rather than the inevitable MTV/Hollywood one--that their alternative ambitions seem most fulfilled.

The biggest problem remains that complete performances could easily have been fit in; their cutting seems arbitrary. Which is a shame, since the tour--particularly the first three or four dates--was outstanding, with plenty of ambience, colorful clothing, masks, candles, incense, and the group playing at a peak. At the least, "Three Days" does capture the feel of Jane's Addiction at their most gleefully hedonistic, it's just that after two minutes of "Mountain Song" one is left wanting to hear the whole thing, which would only have been another two minutes or so!

The bonus 40 minutes of footage is compiled much like the film itself, with the interviews dominating, although some nice rehearsal footage of ballads like "Classic Girl" and "I Would For You" manages to finds its way in there. In short, I would recommend it Janes fans, but with the caveat that this could have been an *amazing* work with better editing.

Well well well......maybe its just that I have never had the chance to experience a JA gig in the flesh that I was relying so heavily on this DVD to give me something of the sheer umimaginable ......but I can't for the love of ????? find a lot to praise it. the rare moments of musicality which any fan craves in something like this are edited in such a way to make you furious....I mean come on WE WANT TO HEAR THE WHOLE SONG !!!!!!!!!!!! DON'T STOP IN THE MIDDLE AND WANDER OFF SOMEPLACE ELSE ..... JESUS CHRIST !!!!!!! and the documentary style .....it all smacks of amateur .....

As a European I missed out on Jane's addiction 'till the release of 1990's Rutual CD. I catched the band on their now legendary European 1990 tour and again on their return to Europe in early 1991. These tours stood the test of time and bring back great memories to some of the finest concerts i have ever seen.

October 2003 12 years later and jane's Addiction returns to Europe and all expectations are lived up to, the band is in top form, their album STRAYS is a fine, more commercial but still definitely true Jane's style, new album and the audience in Amsterdam went bezerk!

How happy was I to finally see this documentary being released on DVd to still my jane's hunger after the shows in Europe. Unfortuantely the Relapse tour was a far stretch from the superb new tour. While Flea might be a great bass player for the Chilli's he isn't for Jane's. For different matters the tour is like a circus act and doesn't capture the essence of Jane's Addiction. While some interviews give a great insight in the band and their members the performances don't have the quality they had in de haydays and on their current tour.

I suggest everyone spend their money on tickets for their current tour or any of their cd's. Jane's Addiction is a great band but should leave documentaries to others and strictly release CD's (a live DVD, maybe?) and play excellent shows like the ones I saw recently!

Well first off, the songs were great, but like the other two reviewers, they were cut short. The ONLY song that is actually complete is Mountain Song. Ocean Size, Ted, Just Admit It, and even the title song, THREE DAYS is cut short for no particular reason at all besides the fact these idiots would rather interview Perry and Dave. Stephen is totally ignored, I must agree.

I love Jane's Addiction to the max, but this seems like two guys who decided to grab a camera, a microphone and go on tour with a band they probably have no idea had a bass player before Flea even came in. There is an absolute no mention of Eric Avery at all--that really urked me.

I had unfourtunatly bought the DVD without thinking. I just assumed it was going to be cool. In the bounus footage, I had thought for sure--for certain--there was going to be a section with the songs in their entirety. I was wrong. It's just more interviews upon interviews. I give this 3 stars becuase I had to be fair. The songs were great, but it "could've been better."

Just watched this last night. What a ride! I've been a fair-weather fan of the band in the past, but I now have to say that I'm forever sold. I was blown through the wall!! The performances made me want to jump off the couch and BE there! I read a few of the other reviews, and they really don't do this film justice. I might be going a little far in saying this, but I think this may be one of the greatest rock films of all-time. It spent a lot of time examining the psyches of the band members, and thus put you in touch with the fact that this wasn't just any old tour for them: this was a significant turning-point in their lives. So what if a couple of the performances weren't complete? (You probably already own the record!) What matters is what was happening off-stage. The Directors commentary is definitely worth checking out...

Every review I read of this DVD hyped it as "controversial". Why?! There's absolutely nothing risque about it.
That said, "Three Days", with its onstage/offstage "Relapse" Tour concert footage is definitely a movie that all Jane's Addiction fans should see, if not buy.
The concert footage looks and sounds great. But, no song performance ever completes before the camera cuts to some backstage footage (the closest to complete was probably "Three Days" at around 90%). Unfortunately, the backstage interviews/footage seem to give you only a partial picture of what the life on the tour must have been like.
My biggest problem though with "Three Days" is the interviewer, who seemed out of his element, a little too nervous, and missing some desperately needed interviewing skills. His questions were so shallow and amateur. I got the impression that he hadn't a clue who Jane's Addiction was, and was doing the movie as a school project.
I think what saved the movie though is that Dave Navarro co-produced it. Dave provides the most insight (via footage he shot such as interviews w/himself) out of everyone what the "Relapse" tour was like.

Say what you will, but to me this film will always be a classic for one scene in particular:

Dave Navarro walking shirtless down the hall of a hotel, blasted out of his mind on crack and god knows what else, seemingly menacing to a family of tourists trying to stay away from him as they too walk down the hallway.

"I just want a sandwich." - FLEA

PS - I saw the Relapse Tour three times and it was amazing. I guess you had to be there.

This release follows Jane's Adiction back on the road in 1997 for the first time since they split six years earlier. Three of the original members have returned with the exception being bass player Eric Avery, so his place is filled by Red Hot Chilli Pepper bass player Flea.

Of course the stars of the show are going to be front man Perry Farrell and guitarist Dave Navarro. Drummer Stephen Perkins gets to make an odd appearnce while Flea is fairly non existint. You do get to see the ramblings of Farrell and Navarro and theres no doubt that theres some big egos here which would explain the short lived reunion.

But what you will really come back for is the live performances which are electric and show why Jane's are one of the most vital bands to come along in the last 20 years. The performances are not in their enteriety but give enough of an indication of what a Jane's show is all about. Ted, just admit it is an awesome performance while the brilliant Three Days is just plain epic.

Theres also 40 minutes of extra footage that didnt make the final cut. But its the live scenes which you will keep coming back to.

I was very disappointed by "Three Days", the Jane's Addiction documentary of the bands "Relapse Reunion" tour by Carter Smith and Kevin Ford. The film misses the mark in three key areas: Continuity [editing especially], Content [it's completely incomprehensible at times], and Style [most[...] clips look more professional!].

Three Days has some of the worst production value I have ever seen in a film. The times when no editing is required, such as concert performances, are needlessly chopped to ribbons. The editor clearly put his desultory vision before the music, which to Jane's Addiction fans, is backwards and thoughtless. The film drags you through dimly lit corridors of back stage venues, subjecting you to it's grotesque camerawork and awful sound. The narrative thread is completely lost in this alleged documentary, replaced with random clips of Steven Perkins smoking hits off his bong and go-go dancers making out with the band onstage. Nothing is wrong with the former or the latter, by the way, but they way it is cut makes the band look silly and unprofessional. Perry Farrell, the frontman, is caught in one awkward line of though after another, left to the mercy of a directorial team that forgot to take their Ritalin that morning, [or had been sniffing too many rails the night before]. As the creative visionary of Jane's Addiction, [now that Eric Avery has left the band for good] Farrell waxes poetic about life, death, sex, and nonsense, which has so much potential to be entertaining and fun but instead it seems awkward and forced.

Clearly the filmmakers never asked themselves the basic question "What do we want this film to say?" If they had they would have put together a much more thoughtful and less arbitrary piece. It seems like the last chance to capture and document one of the most talented and influential bands out of America in the late 80's has been sufficiently squandered. The one chance this film had to impress me was with it's performances of songs like "Summertime Rolls", "Stop", and "Three Days". But these were brought to sudden abhorred stops for no apparent reason. Shame on you Carter Smith and Kevin Ford. Don't buy this film. Don't even download it for free - the electricity used wouldn't be worth it. Try Gift or Soul Kiss, two films made my the band when they were still together. These have a multitude of problems themselves but are much more entertaining and fun overall.

Decent enough documentary on the "Relapse" tour but I think 20 years later they need to do an overview. There was a lot of interesting stuff that happened on that tour that they didn't get on film, but I did like how they showed the craziness of the tour (but nothing compared to the band from 86-91) balanced out with what they were up to 6 months after the tour was over.

There is a LOT more footage, and this as well as "Gift" (still not on DVD) disappoint because there's obviously full length shows that have been shot over the years.

With the recent full band reunion for an award show, it's time to showcase their importance and influence in modern rock.

This tells a tiny part of the story. As a Janes fan it's far from the complete story and captures a small part of how they were as a live band.
It get the "travelling circus" part down and some personal insight from Dave and Perry.