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20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Demon with an Angels Face, July 13, 2006
While I can understand the arguments against this film I personally thought it was really interesting. If you accept that this is not going to be a story about the Rolling Stones career and that it is only going to be a story about the final months of Brian Jones' life then you will not put yourself in a position to be disappointed.
Brian Jones was the founding member of the Stones and the one who turned the other guys on to the blues. He was also the acting manager of the band in the early days. However, he was also the first one to get into drugs and while the band spent the majority of its time either on the road touring or in the studio recording Brian spent an increasing amount of time in his stately mansion living like one of the landed gentry, albeit one of the stoned-out-of-his-gourd landed gentry. It was his drug problem that prohibited his touring the US with the rest of the band and it was his drug problem that prohibited his contribution to any album after 1967. The other guys occasionally came around to Brian's country estate to check in and see if he had cleaned up but they always found that he hadn't, so, finally, in 1969 Mick and Keith fired him from the band. Jones could hardly have been surprised. To make matters worse Jones girlfriend, Anita Pallenberg, left him for Keith c. 1968.
What the film tries to do is give us some idea of what made Brain Jones tick. He was a restless spirit who looked like an angel but who enjoyed experimenting with the dark side. It was the free-and-experimental-spirited model/actress Anita Pallenberg who turned him on to drugs and many of the films most fascinating sequences are drug-induced fantasy sequences that involve S$M (apparently the sex of choice for rock 'n rollers)and lots of dress up and role playing. Jones loved fashion and shopping and he was always known as something of a fashion icon. However much he loved the blues he also loved North African Jajouka music (which made its way on to a couple c. 1967 Stones albums)and he also loved North Africa. But Brian also had problems. While the other Stones seemed to be able to handle recreational drugs Brian could not. Brian was always trying to test boundaries and accrding to the film it was Brian who insisted that Anita and Keith (who he could tell were attracted to each other) get together. After they had been together Brian beat Anita up and from then on out it was Keith and Anita instead of Brian and Anita.
Though a few flashbacks take place when the band was just starting out (and Brian was a fully functioning member of the group) and a few scenes take place in North Africa, the majority of this film takes place inside and on the grounds of Brian's mansion. And most of the time Brian is stoned and just hanging out with his new Swedish girlfriend.
The guy who would in 1993 confess to the killing of Brian Jones was hired by a trusted Stones employee to look after Brian. This guy was officially hired as a contractor to do some work on Brian's property but his unofficial duty was to keep drugs away from Brian; he was, in short, what we would today call a personal assistant. The relationship that developed between the two was a kind of friendship but a friendship in which Brian was the master and the assistant the servant. This part of the story is highly speculative because many of the episodes that took place between Brian and his hired assistant were not witnessed by anyone (with the possible exception of Brian's girlfriend who was in and out of Brians life at this time). Apparently, or at least according to this movie, the hired assistant was unsuccessful at keeping Brian clean. In fact the film alleges that Brian lured this guy into a life of drug use. But, as the episode with Anita showed, Brian could be abusive. And apparently, this film argues, he was abusive to his assistant who one night decided to retaliate.
If you've ever seen Nicolas Roeg's film PERFORMANCE then you probably have some idea how a Rolling Stone lived during this era. This film is not as artsy or as mysterious or as good as PERFORMANCE, rather this film has a kind of quirky attitude and spirirt that makes it feel less like a 1960's avant-garde film (which would have been more appropriate) and more like a contemporary independent film which is in fact what it is. Brian Jones' life and death only make sense if you place it in the context of the time. The filmamkers try to do that but I don't think we ever really believe that this actor has captured Brian Jones as he was and so the legend remains intact. Still the film does some things well. The actress who plays Anita Pallenberg is brilliant. And the film shows what kinds of things Brian spent his time doing in those last months. It also sheds some light (perhaps mainly based on speculation)on to the strange circumstances that led to his death.
I don't think anyone would call this the defintive Brian Jones story, but it has its moments.
The music is a real disappointment. Not much in the way of Stones music here. Instead, probably due to copy right infringements, producers use random 60's tunes instead of Jones/Stones music. So instead of hearing "2,000 Light Years From Home" during the drug sequences we hear "White Rabbit."
Not a masterpiece. But worth a look for Brian Jones and Stones fans who know what they are getting when they rent or buy this film. PERFORMANCE is a film you will watch over and over again. STONED is a film you will probably only watch once. You can't really play a Stone. These guys were some of the most charismatic individuals of their time and no one can capture that kind of magnetism with acting. So just keep in mind that allowances must be made and you will be in a position to enjoy this.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Portrait of a decline, September 9, 2006
Sex, drugs and rock'n'roll, and the downward spiral all three can inspire.
Brian Jones was the ultimate rock tragedy, dying young, rich and ruined by his own success and the loss of his lover. But the late Rolling Stones founder deserved a better biopic than "Stoned," which focuses on every part of Jones' life that is NOT interesting or insightful.
The movie opens with two flashbacks -- Jones being confronted about a girl he got pregnant, and an early Stones show. Then it flips ahead several years to when builder Frank Thorogood (Paddy Considine) is being hired by soon-to-be-ex Rolling Stone Brian Jones (Gregory), to do work on his new mansion and the grounds surrounding it. Soon he's fascinated by the mercurial Jones.
Jones himself is lost in memories of his glory days of drugs, sex, jetsetting and exotic music -- and especially his former lover Anita Pallenberg (Monet Mazur), who dumped him for his bandmate Keith (Ben Whishaw). He draws Thorogood into a dangerous game of hedonistic fun, until the degraded builder strikes back at him -- with tragic results.
In theory, Jones was the ideal subject for a biopic -- he lived a short, colourful life full of drugs, art and sex. Perfect subjects for a wild movie. Too bad this movie is actually about Frank Thorogood.
Unfortunately director Stephen Woolley doesn't seem to realize that nobody really cares about Thorogood, or why he murdered Jones. What people want is Jones -- tortured artist, forlorn child-man, girlfriend-beating sadist. Woolley provides brief glimpses ("You're fun to wind up") into Jones' psyche, but there's a lot more of Thorogood getting stoned, whining, and jumping on sleeping women.
How did Jones start the Stones? How did fame and drugs change him? How did he deteriorate until his bandmates had to kick him out? Nope, don't expect answers. Instead we get about a hundred lingering shots of the swimming pool on Brian's estate -- thank you for that subtle foreshadowing, Mr. Woolley. We had almost forgotten that Jones drowned in the pool.
In the end, "Stoned" is remarkable more for what it leaves out than for what it contains. Anita, those illegitimate kids, and Jones' musical skills are all sort of pushed to the side so we can see the big bad rock star mess with a country lad. And Woolley NEVER focuses on his relationship with the Stones. It's a shame, because the flashbacks to the Moroccan vacation are the most intense and colourful of the whole movie.
Leo Gregory does a fairly good job with Jones' personality (too bad they look totally unalike). But star is Mazur as the dangerous, charismatic Anita; it's a shame the affair is basically dismissed as a longtime S&M romp. Whishaw and Luke de Woolfson deserve a special shout-out for their portrayals of Richards and Mick Jagger. Neither one has a lot of onscreen time, but they are utterly convincing.
"Stoned" is full of moments that show what the movie could have been, and never was. Instead of a study of a brilliant, manipulative musician, we have a study of how he messed with his gardener. A limp, schizophrenic mess.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A well done movie., December 21, 2006
I am a big fan of the Rolling Stones and I found this movie to be very well done. Some are disappointed the movie doesn't have more Stones music or show Brian in his prime. If you accept the movie is focusing on the end of Brian's life, you will be interested for what it shows rather than omits. What it shows is how Brian could be cruel, self-centered, and self-destructive. I found it interesting that a man who could have so much fame and money could be so miserable and feel the need to turn to drugs.
The actor playing Brian does a very good job! I think people who have some knowledge of the Rolling Stones will find this movie to be entertaining. Perhaps, having the life of a rock star comes with more temptation and pressure than most imagine. The decline of Brian shows how the envy of others, mixed with Brian's own lack of self-discipline led to his tragic early death. The movie portrays a morbid depressing atmosphere mixed in with luxury and wealth.
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