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Editorial Reviews
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A conventional documentary wouldn't suit a timeless iconoclast like Patti Smith. Photographer-turned-filmmaker Steven Sebring's Dream of Life honors her originality through his own unique vision. Narrated by Smith in her unmistakable New Jersey drawl and shot primarily in grainy black and white, he revisits his subject's storied past through her reflective present. In the mid-1990s, when Sebring began filming, she was recovering from the loss of her husband, Fred "Sonic" Smith, guitarist for the MC5, while moving with their children, Jesse and Jackson, from Detroit to New York City. Over the next 11 years, the devoted director accompanies her as she travels to London, Rome, and other cities where she performs, speaks out against the Iraq War, and visits sites that hold special meaning, particularly the graves of poets. Along the way, she looks in on her proud parents and remembers departed friends, like Robert Mapplethorpe, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, while Sebring intercuts clips and stills from her years as a punk pioneer (Michael Stipe, Sam Shepard, and Flea also put in appearances). As Smith notes in passing, "Life isn't some vertical or horizontal line... it's not neat," and Sebring’s jazz improvisation of a film follows a similar pattern, putting a feminist spin on vérité-style musician profiles from Don't Look Back (a Smith favorite) to Let’s Get Lost. If the pace is relaxed to a fault, the images are often intriguing, the performances are always inspiring, and Smith makes for an especially gracious guide into her own illustrious life. --Kathleen C. Fennessy
Product Description
Eleven years in the making, Patti Smith: Dream of Life is a unique and intimate portrait of the renowned singer, songwriter, poet and activist. Patti Smith s music, poetry, and politics are fearless, funny, raw, and original.
Photographer- director Steven Sebring creates a beautiful collage of images, memories and performances illuminating the complexities and capturing the essence of this distinctive, legendary icon. The film follows Patti Smith s punk-icon roots in the 70s through the trials of daily life and untimely deaths that have formed her life and art. Smith tells the story of her early days in New York City, the people that we dearest to her (her late husband Fred Sonic Smith, Allen Ginsburg, Robert Mapplethorpe, and others), her family, and the political causes for which she so deeply struggled.
Through beautiful cinematography, (both black and white, and color), Sebring captures the essence nature of this vital and relevant American artist.
Photographer- director Steven Sebring creates a beautiful collage of images, memories and performances illuminating the complexities and capturing the essence of this distinctive, legendary icon. The film follows Patti Smith s punk-icon roots in the 70s through the trials of daily life and untimely deaths that have formed her life and art. Smith tells the story of her early days in New York City, the people that we dearest to her (her late husband Fred Sonic Smith, Allen Ginsburg, Robert Mapplethorpe, and others), her family, and the political causes for which she so deeply struggled.
Through beautiful cinematography, (both black and white, and color), Sebring captures the essence nature of this vital and relevant American artist.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
a must-see for all Patti Smith fans, and art lovers too,
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This review is from: Patti Smith Dream Of Life (DVD)
I was fortunate to see this film in a local art cinema with a talkback by the videographer, Sebring. Even not being a die-hard Smith fan, I thoroughly enjoyed the evocative, grainy film technique as well as Patti's voiceover musings and clips from concerts. The film was shot over a number of years by Sebring, her close friend, allowing glimpses into her persona we mere mortals would not otherwise be given, and her sharing of her art, poetry, friends and family were rolled in to the whole quite cohesively, interspersed with loose-styled video. On the whole, while I expected a standard concert film and to be somewhat bored, I found myself involved and moved, and very glad to have seen it. I've ordered the DVD to watch again, something I rarely do with films.
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Film Is Artistic Collage of Artist's Life,
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This review is from: Patti Smith Dream Of Life (DVD)
Patti Smith Dream Of Life
Steven Sebring's documentary film about the "Godmother of Punk," artist, poet, political activist, widow, and mother Patti Smith, is an artfully rendered collage of her life. It took 11 years to film. Often I felt as if she was speaking directly to me, as she offered up items and places and people and memories that were central to her life. As a fan of 30 years, I felt privileged to receive this generous colllaborative portrait of Patti Smith's private life. Sebring's cinematography was unusually beautiful and innovative. During some segments which were spoken, the volume was normal, or even a bit enhanced. Some parts were filmed very effectively with no sound whatsoever, most notably one scene that showed her onstage in Japan before a large crowd of very young fans- only Patti singing, gesticulating with her arms outstretched; fans jumping, waving, cheering- all in slow motion and bathed in red light. When the song ends, we see her slowly bring her hands up to cover her face, and she turns away, leaving her audience ecstatic. This was the closest I've ever seen a film clip come to portraying her shamanic onstage presence. As she brings us to meet her parents, we discover their remaining closeness, and that mom and dad have attended her shows for many years (until her dad went deaf in one ear, and she had to begin playing private acoustic shows just for him). I won't give any more of the film away, except to note that her reading of a poem she wrote after visiting Tibet was incredibly moving, and even brought the "Godmother of Punk" to tears.
11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A work of love,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Patti Smith Dream Of Life (DVD)
Steven Sebring has crafted a wonderful film that can be appreciated by Patti fans and anyone who can recognize a documentary that was done with great respect and affection for its subject. Don't expect a lot of concert footage. There are however numerous, albeit brief, musical snippets that enhance the story. This is a DVD I will never part with.
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