Rating: M, mature themes, drug references, sexual references and coarse language
Running Time: 90 minutes
Screening: Sun 16 Jan 2011, 4:30, Sun 23 Jan, 8:30, Sun 29 Jan 8:45, Fri 4 Feb 8:30 and Thurs 10 Feb, 7:00
Showing at: Mercury Cinema, 13 Morphett Street, Adelaide
http://www.mercurycinema.org.au
Written and directed by award winning director, Tom DiCillo, this is a rather reverential documentary about the late 1960’s American band, The Doors, with the focus primarily on their lead singer and song writer, Jim Morrison, and his fluctuating relationships with the other members of the band due to his alcoholism, drug use and unpredictable behaviour. The Emmy nominated film covers those few years from their formation in 1966 and their rise to fame and fortune, through to the disintegration of the group and Morrison’s death in Paris in 1971. The film’s title is taken from the chorus of their song, People Are Strange.
Morrison read the likes of Nietzsche and the poetry of William Blake as a young man, and the band, according to this documentary, took its name from a line of Blake’s 1792 poem, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell: “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite. For man has closed himself up, till he sees all things thro’ narrow chinks of his cavern”. Another source, however, suggest that this was an indirect reference and that the band’s name actually came from the title of Aldous Huxley’s book, The Doors of Perception, which in turn referenced that line in Blake’s poem.
The others in the band were the classically trained Ray Manzarek, on keyboards, Robby Krieger, on guitar, and drummer, John Densmore. They came from diverse musical backgrounds, giving the group that unique sound, Manzarek playing a bass electric piano with his left hand and Krieger drawing on his training in Flamenco to add a bass line to his guitar playing, in order to make up for the lack of a bass player. Krieger also used the bottleneck slide extensively in his playing. Densmore’s background in Jazz ensured that the drumming was always interesting and well beyond the rather simple rhythms of most bands of the time.
The film is narrated by Johnny Depp, who remains unobtrusive yet engaging, and includes photographs and archival footage that have not previously been seen, especially some quite grainy backstage and personal footage. It also includes material from Morrison’s 1969 film fragment, HWY: An American Pastoral, available here for the first time. The film places the band and its music into a historical and socio-economical background, with archival footage of such events as the anti-Vietnam War protests, the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, the Youth Movement and more. It shows the effects that the band had on society, and the effects that society had on the band. It also showed the group’s extensive influence on other bands.
Morrison’s addiction to, and extreme abuse of drugs and alcohol are explored, not in a condemning way, but through the disastrous effects that they had on his personal and professional life. The film does not make any judgements on him but simply explains what he did and its effects. All of this is set against a score of snippets of the band’s many hits and a few lesser-known songs, which is, of course, going to please fans of the band, but does leave one wishing some more complete songs and performances had been included.
This film captures the atmosphere and explores the social mores of the 1960s particularly well, and is definitely one that those who already know and love the band will want to see. It is very likely to gain new aficionados of the music of The Doors from those not already familiar with the group.
This film can be seen as part of the Mercury Cinema’s Summer Programme which runs from Friday 14th January through to Monday 14th February.
See more information at https://glamadelaide.com.au/the-mercury-cinema-announces-summer-screening-program/
3.5/5 stars
Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Arts Editor, Glam Adelaide.
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