Keith Richards: Under the Influence (2015)

The Man Behind the Myth

In 2010, Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards released Life, his long-awaited autobiography. The book was a great read for Rolling Stones fans such as myself, but only succeeded in blurring the line between Keith Richards the myth (a drug-fuelled rock & roll pirate with a guitar) and Keith Richards the man (his book includes a recipe for bangers & mash, and Keith reveals that he warms up for concerts by listening to Mozart). As much as Life seemed inclined to portray its central character as a bit of a cartoon character, it also hinted at a layered and sensitive soul who seemed slightly frustrated at how he had been pigeonholed in public perception. Under the Influence, despite its title, seems to prove that this is the case.

This documentary, however, is not simply a film version of Life, but the story of Richards’ long love affair with music. Framed by a discussion with Anthony DeCurtis about his new album, the film joins Keith on a musical journey to pay tribute to the styles that have influenced him over the years; from the scintillating electric blues of Chicago, to the dreamy country music of Nashville, to the earthy reggae of Jamaica. Along the way we meet friends and contemporaries such as the eccentric Tom Waits (who seems to be something of a kindred spirit to Richards), blues legend Buddy Guy, and guitar technician Pierre de Beauport, who is employed for the purpose of maintaining and keeping track of the hundreds of guitars that Richards owns.

 Keith’s travels yield many highlights. We see archive footage of the young Rolling Stones bringing the great bluesman Howlin’ Wolf to perform on American chart show Shindig!, in front of an audience comprised almost entirely of teenagers. What could easily have been a disaster becomes a triumph as the 6’3”, 54 year-old Wolf – dressed for church – wins the entire room over with a rousing performance of “How Many More Years?” in a wonderful moment.  Keith also takes the time to demonstrate how he achieved the distinctive guitar sound on the Stones’ “Street Fighting Man”, playing an acoustic guitar into a cassette recorder and then playing that into an amplifier. Most rewarding of all, however, is the sheer, unaffected joy that Richards evokes when playing music or discussing an artist he loves. It’s infectious, as if he always took care to keep his inner child alive.

The film is also a huge success on a technical level; it’s filmed beautifully, and the entire production has a feeling of intimacy and warmth. The soundtrack is unsurprisingly superb, and could easily have been released as an album. Director Morgan Neville also deserves credit for getting his subject to relax and feel at ease in front of the cameras – I imagine this must be quite a hard thing to do.

All in all, this is a lovely film that I thoroughly recommend. Keith Richards comes across as no more or less than a happy old man, content with his lot and at peace with his eccentricities (the glass he drinks from has a skull & crossbones on it. Maybe he is a pirate after all!). In simply getting him to play music and talk about things he is passionate about, Morgan Neville has painted a clearer picture of the man than a 564-page book. Well done!

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

The release of a new Star Wars film is always a massive event accompanied by a huge amount of build-up and expectation. In 1999, it was rumoured that people were purchasing tickets to films they had no interest in seeing for the purpose of viewing the trailer for Star Wars Episode 1: The Phantom Menace. After the trailer had screened, they would get up and leave the cinema.

Thankfully, living in the YouTube-era means that no one had to go to such lengths to see the trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but the level of anticipation for this film has been just as high; it features the three core members of the original cast (Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher, and Harrison Ford), plus a new generation of actors intended to be the stars of a new trilogy. Looking backwards while moving forwards is always a risky business, but can The Force Awakens pull it off? In my opinion… no, but there is still a lot to enjoy.

The plot is chiefly concerned with the search for Luke Skywalker. Luke is now the last Jedi and being hunted by an evil movement called the First Order and its figurehead, Kylo Ren (Adam Driver). A map revealing Luke’s whereabouts is entrusted to a droid named BB-8, who chance brings into contact with a scavenger named Rey (Daisy Ridley) and stormtrooper-on-the-run Finn (John Boyega). Their attempts to escape the clutches of the First Order lead them to Han Solo and Chewbacca, and soon they are embroiled in a daring plot to destroy a devastating space weapon.

As I mentioned, there are many things in The Force Awakens that work really well. The performances from Daisy Ridley and John Boyega are committed and lively, and the friendship between Finn and Rey is believable and well-developed in the first part of the film. The movie also features a good sense of humour which lightens the mood at just the right moments, and the special effects and CGI are spectacular without ever becoming intrusive. Perhaps most importantly, The Force Awakens really feels like a true Star Wars film, and often goes out of its way to evoke memories of the original series. This, however, is where the film begins to run into problems, and it often seems preoccupied with paying tribute to the past.

The first part of the film does a great job of introducing Finn, Rey, and Kylo Ren, but all of this is undermined when Han Solo makes his entrance about a third of the way in. From this point on, he is the main character, and the new faces are unfortunately side-lined. When the focus abruptly shifts back to Finn and Rey towards the end of the film, they seem ill-equipped for the job, having been relegated to supporting players for much of the second act.

It’s possible that The Force Awakens would have been greatly improved if Harrison Ford had been used sparingly. In the original Star Wars, the only big-name actors on board were Alec Guinness and Peter Cushing, but they were strictly used in support roles and never allowed to overshadow the lead actors (all of whom were unknowns at the time). The recent Star Trek films (also directed by JJ. Abrams) benefitted massively from small appearances from Leonard Nimoy as Spock; his presence served to give the films a measure of authenticity and weight that they would not have had without him, and yet he was not onscreen long enough to distract the audience from the real stars of the film. The problem here is that we just see too much of Han Solo, and while it’s nice to have him back, it’s time that could have been spent establishing the new characters.

This essentially sums up the fatal mistake made by The Force Awakens. Faced with a choice between striding into the future and retreating into the past, it takes the safe bet and turns into a tribute to the original trilogy. Magical flashes of the film that could have been (like Finn’s out-of-the-blue lightsabre battle with a stormtrooper) are outnumbered by endless references (Luke’s old lightsabre, Vader’s helmet, Chewbacca’s holographic chessboard, etc.) and too many characters come across as echoes of characters from the older films. Nevertheless, all the elements are here to make a truly great film, and hopefully the upcoming Star Wars Episode VIII will take full advantage of them.