Customer Reviews

Year of the Horse [VHS]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

The method of Jim Jarmusch has worked, to this point, to minimalize the actor's environment as means of accentuating the spoken word. Relationships are shared usually between the audience and an intimate few; 3 (Stranger Than Paradise), 2 (Night on Earth, Coffee and Cigarettes), 1 (Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai). Banter usually focuses on juxtaposing decisions made in the past with the decisions, although often not apparent, that are to be made within the quagmire of what is routine. Transient characters use expression and subsequent argument as the auteur's mouthpiece to confront this routine. Year of the Horse is Jarmusch's exception; rockumenting the band Crazy Horse and their lead man Neil Young on their 1996 world tour.

Jim Jarmusch, after teaming up with Neil Young for the soundtrack to his 1995 film Dead Man, has collaborated with Neil again, under the guise of Shakey Pictures, Neil Young's pseudonym and label, to document Crazy Horse's Broken Arrow tour. Old tour footage (1976 tour footage was directed and filmed by One West, the 1986 footage was taken from the film Muddy Track, a Shakey Picture, directed and filmed by Bernard Shakey) is included as means of juxtaposing the band's transition in sound, set design and apparel, a testament to their consistency. The band - Neil Young (guitar/vocals), Ralph Molina (drums/vocals), Frank "Poncho" Sampedro (guitar/keyboards/vocals), and Billy Talbot (bass/vocals) - question Jarmusch's ability to capture the essence of what truly is Crazy Horse as their tenure as grunge gods with an iconic leading man cannot be easily summarized. Or can it? "Some artsy-fartsy New York director gonna ask a bunch of stupid questions and pretend like you're explaining what's been a 30-year relationship." Or can it?

As Crazy Horse's tour meanders through the United States and Europe, Jarmusch's camera documents each step of the way, the highlights of which allow the audience to witness a tour bus fight regarding the harmonies on the song Cortez the Killer, a hit off of the 1976 album Zuma. In fact, many of the references, and subsequent song and footage selection revolve around Zuma. Their 1976 tour/footage was captured while promoting the album, and the songs Barstool Blues and Stupid Girl both appear on the Year of the Horse setlist, and are played admirably well some 20 years later. Jarmusch decided to use Super 8mm film stock to capture their 1996 concert footage, an obvious testament to the raw edginess to the band's music. Behind the scenes footage is by way of interview, working as an homage to lives lost and as a celebration of continued success.

In an interview with Emmanuel Tellier from "Les Inrockuptibles" magazine, Neil intimates that with Year of the Horse "you can really feel the personal view of a film maker, and above all the movie is about the band. It's more than a simple story; it's an impression, a succession of feelings. I had the idea of doing this movie - I like this kind of stuff and I like to have a camera with me, but Jim made it possible...With Crazy Horse, we always work hard. Sometimes, people don't understand how hard it is. Jarmusch's film really shows that."

The film's setlist, like its footage, is a blend of old favorites and new(er) tracks off of the bands 1996 Broken Arrow album. Neil says in the film that he "always hated calling the band Neil Young and Crazy Horse...we together are Crazy Horse." The iconic frontman has wavered very little from his aptitude for great songwriting, leadership that has kept this grunge band in check and sounding great for over twenty years.

1997
Directed by Jim Jarmusch
106 Minutes

Setlist:

1. @#$%^&* Up
2. Slip Away
3. Barstool Blues
4. Stupid Girl
5. Big Time
6. Tonight's the Night
7. Sedan Delivery
8. My Girl
9. Like a Hurricane
10. Music Arcade

Can't get to the show? No problem! Jarmusch gives you an all-access pass through the highs and lows of life on the road with Crazy Horse over the decades, and the ride hasn't slowed down a bit, though the players may have rusted a tad. This movie isn't as much a concert as it is a lesson in how four people (five if you include the late Danny Whitten) can constantly churn out better and better music every time they get together. There's no such thing as "status quo" with Crazy Horse. Yeah, the interviews show how life on the road gets tiresome, but once they hit the stage it all seems worthwhile. And, for any doubters out there, you won't see a better performance than the ones Neil the the boys put on for this disc. There's not a bad song to be found, and the sound quality puts you in the front row (you can choose Dolby 5.1 OR DTS). The video's there only for background - well edited, but don't expect to see every detail, every line in their faces on stage. At one point, the members of Horse talk about their jackets... the ones that say "Neil Young and Crazy Horse" on the back. Then Neil points out that HIS jacket just says, "Crazy Horse." He knows, and I hope that the others do also, that they all contribute to the sound that's uniquely theirs. If you want loud, great rock 'n roll with none of the garbage that sometimes gets in the way, like so much of today's music, I can't recommend this higher. (Even if you DO like today's stuff, get this anyway and see where it REALLY comes from.) Hey Hey, My My, Crazy Horse will never die!

Actually, I've seen this more than once. The first time, I had the priveldge of seeing it on a large screen in a movie theater with an excellent sound system. Of course the film is better on large screen format, but I still enjoyed it playing on a TV in a darkened room with the sound blaring from my stereo system turned up loud. Watching this film, I had the feeling that old time Crazy Horse fans could easily be off-put by a film which contains a high volume of photographic evidence clearly showing Neil Young, and the other members of Crazy Horse, as rock stars grown into the bodies of old men. The nostalgic footage, in the film, reveals more of a glory days version of Crazy Horse, and offers up an interesting dichotomy of the band's intrinsic character for what is now and what was then. Historically, I've always been somewhat neutral about the music of Crazy Horse, but still enjoyed the band as a film subject, and really liked the music in the film; not the band's best perfomances, but pretty cool performances just the same. This didn't play out like a kitcsh video album, or any such nonsense, but as more of a character study of a band that has been around longer and through more than any feature length movie could really encapsulate. But on that note, I felt JJ's direction gave one a good base for educated interpolation on the subject. Definately recommended.

One bandmate jestingly complains that some artsy filmmaker from NYC can't get to the essence of Crazy Horse (and what they've gone thru for 30 years) , but Jim Jarmusch gets as close to it as you can in 107 minutes. The band members open up, each individually interviewed in a basement with a washing machine in the background, in their hotel rooms, and on the tour bus. And the concert footage from different eras is often stunning. Some of the complaints below are essentially that the film is non-linear but these critics miss the point because this is an artists depiction of fellow artists and the artists he's depicting are masters of the psychedelic experience. It's NOT supposed to be linear. My favorite parts were Jarmusch's visual dipictions to go along with the music (far better than any MTV videos), they are simply stunning compositions, they are as true to the music as can be, they add to the music. This is a must for those into the artistic psychedelic experience. Roll one up, have a few bottles of wine, strap yourself in and enjoy the trip!

The movie "Year of the Horse" nailed me to my chair. I don't know if this is an good expression in English. I am a very big fan of Neil Young and I know his dark sides in music very well. The film creates deep emotions, especially the performance of "Tonight's the Night". Neil goes his own ways and inspires me to do so either. Comments on Neils music on my e-mail adress are welcome.

The Year of The Horse comes on like a languorous sledgehammer, just like being at a Neil Young concert. Shot almost entirely in Super 8, the film retains a ragged, free-form look that behooves the subject matter. This video gives you absolutely fantastic concert footage and some interesting looks back at the band's early years.

Unfortunately, most of the interviewing and editing comes off as scattered and incoherent. There are very few intelligent questions asked and even fewer decent responses.

For example, some of the interview material is covered several times for no reason. I got sick of hearing Poncho complain that there was no way that some witty response could sum up 30 years of insane band history. Sure, he may have had a point, but the extra 3 or 4 times that he stated the same thing should have been dropped on the editing floor rather than included.

Instead of focusing on the band's place in history, this film instead focused on the relationships between the band members - something which is fairly innocuous and boring given everything else that could have been done with the subject matter.

I love Jarmusch and I love Crazy Horse. While there are worthwhile nuggets of both in this film, the presentation gets pretty formulaic and stale (inane interview, great concert footage, inane interview, great concert footage, etc.).

As a side note, the extra DVD features are fairly bland and do not add any real value to the package.

For the Rusties and anybody who wants to see what ordinary guys who happen to work in Rock & Roll do for a living this is a fine film. Jarmusch has inveigled himself into the band and comes off as one of the strangest people in the film (albeit that a groupie/fan/nutcase in one clip clearly is a brick shy of a load).

This is an avant garde film of working-man rockers and it shows what 30 years together means to these men ... if only by scratching the surface. Neil & Frank (Pancho) come across as very human and, quite frankly, I believe that this film contains about as much information about their lives and personal business that anybody outside the group ought to have access to. I know that these men have worked hard to stay honest to their muse, they don't back down from nobody and they do get up in the morning.

This appears to be an effort to reflect the ragged, jagged, fuzzy, loose sound of Crazy Horse visually and attitudinally in a documentary. The film stock is low quality, the camera is hand-held and often jiggly, there's lots of out-of-focus, grainy stuff, and the interviews and candid moments seem offhand and sometimes random. I don't see why that couldn't work in principle, but in this case it doesn't amount to much. To me, at least, it isn't that interesting visually or attitudinally because of any of those techniques. In fact, some people positively hate this film because of those techniques, so they may bother you too. However, there is some interesting stuff in the interviews, of a very basic sort. You get some flavor of what the band members are like and how they interact, and some history of how they got together.

The more valuable part of the film for me is the music. Most of it's from 1996 concert performances, but there are some clips from earlier, back as far as the 70s, including a substantial part of "Like a Hurricane." My favorite is "Tonight's the Night," which starts off with a quiet bass line and goes through several gritty stages, including some unusual guitar effects from Young. It's introduced by interview bits about David Briggs, a producer and friend who died young of lung cancer, which sets a sober mood. The other songs are a mix of old and what was new in 1996: "F****n' Up," "Slip Away," "Barstool Blues," "Stupid Girl," "Big Time," "Tonight's the Night," "Sedan Delivery," "My Girl," "Like a Hurricane," "Music Arcade." They're all well performed, with maximum energy.

The DVD chapters (on my copy, at least) don't usually correspond to the beginning of a song, which is inconvenient for those who might want to hear the songs more often than the interviews and such that are between them.

There are three versions of this DVD available through Amazon right now. The one I have is a bare-bones region 1 Canadian version, UPC 774212009235, with a Warholish cover of four differently colored versions of the photo of the midsection of Young playing guitar. The sound quality, in Dolby 2.0, is pretty good for a live concert. The image quality is supposed to be distressed, and it is. It's nonanamorphic widescreen, meaning it will have black bars on the sides on a widescreen monitor, but given the generally low video quality, that hardly matters. The only extra is a trailer. (It's worth checking the Canadian Amazon site for cheaper prices on this one.)

There's a region-free Brazilian version that has Dolby 2.0 and 5.1 sound options, plus a photo gallery, biography and discography.

The US release has Dolby 2.0, 5.1 and DTS 5.1. It also has a 26-minute interview with Young and director Jarmusch, plus additional interview material with Crazy Horse. The additional stuff is said to be about as interesting as the stuff that's in the interviews in the film itself, but I haven't seen it. There's also the trailer (and a couple trailers for other films). The DTS sound is said to be good, if you have the system required for it. The video is nonanamorphic widescreen. Obviously, of the three, the US release is the one to get if you can, but all these DVDs are out of print, and that version is currently the most expensive.

There's also a 2-CD set called Year of the Horse, but the music on it isn't the same as on the DVD.

Jim Jarmusch is as great an admirer of Neil Young as I am, and that's saying something! Neil Young's soundtrack for Jarmusch's film 'Dead Man' was a powerful contributor to that film -- I have the Japanese DVD, and it is due for Region 1 release late this year or early next. Jarmusch returns the favour by sculpting one of the best rockumentaries filmed, fully the equal of D.A. Pennebaker's 'Monterey Pop' and 'Don't Look Back'. The film focuses on Neil Young's long-time association with his favourite musical collaborators 'Crazy Horse' and spans a couple of decades, as the musicians work, drink, play and most important of all, perform. The film is sometimes very patchy 16 mm, but the ragged edge and graininess just seems to accentuate the raw power of Neil Young, as he pushes songs like 'Hurricane' to new heights. Buy it -- and check out 'Dead Man' as well. In that film, the combination of Jim Jarmusch, Johnny Depp,Robert Mitchum and Neil Young all in the one package is pretty unbeatable.

This film will grow on you, just like Neil Young does,after you have seen it a few times.Sit back with some old friends,and watch some old friends,Neil, and the always great Crazy Horse,get down and do what they do best,make great rocknroll! From the director of "Dead Man" and playing the role of a soda jerk boy from "Sling Blade",Jim Jarmusch brings you a gritty look at life on the road with one of the last real guitar heroes, one role that is still vital for Neil Young, and for us,his fans.Hey Hey, My My.