THE BULLETIN • FRIDAY, AUGUST 17, 2012
movies
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PAGE 35
A trip down memory lane with Neil Young ou can't go home again, even if you're Neil Young. The new documentary "Neil Young Journeys" opens with the rock legend driving the streets of Omemee, the southern Ontario town where he grew up. He's tooling in a '56 Ford Crown Victoria, following another classic car driven by his brother, Bob. He approves of Bob's driving: "Not too fast. Not too slow." There used to be the school he attended. There lived three sisters, "too old for me." Here is the school named after his father, Scott Young. Here is where his home once was, and he and Bob get out of their cars and walk across a grassy lawn that was his mother's pride. In the summers he slept every night on a cot in a pup tent, "to be closer to my chickens." In the morning his dad would shout out the back door, and he'd have to wave his arm through the flap of the tent to show he was awake. Nobody is ever gone, he says. You keep them in your memory. But on street after street, he looks out the Ford's window and says, "All of this has changed." There's something in his tone that helps explain his singing voice, so often plaintive and mournful. Even when he sings "Hey hey, my my, rock and roll can never die," it doesn't sound like a victory. "Neil Young Journeys" is the third documentary about Young by Jonathan Demme, and follows close after "Neil Young Trunk Show" in 2009. "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" came in 2006. With the exception of the Omemee footage, it's mostly a concert film, made in 2011 at Massey Hall in Toronto, his hometown. It would be for the songs that you'd probably want to see it. It's an intimate performance portrait, divided among new material from his 2010 album, "Le Noise," and many of his classics. Demme adopts a straightforward approach for the first half of the concert. He mostly avoids audience reaction shots,
Y
ROGER
EBERT
"Neil Young Journeys" 87 minutes PG, for language including some drug references, and brief thematic material
and even the sound of applause seemed dampened. This is all deliberate, and the opening moments of the film show two of Young's sound mixers setting up their boards. The digital sound, I learn from Variety, was recorded at "twice the normal sampling rate" and foregrounds the lyrics and the powerful force of his guitar instead of embedding them, as sometimes happens in the chaotic noise of a concert. Young stands alone on the Massey stage. No backup. Derome's cinematographer, Declan Quinn, has rigged a small camera on the post of Young's microphone so Demme can depend on unlimited high-quality close-ups. It is close to a fault; at one point, a little spit gets on the lens. Demme uses a little outside footage, particularly during the song "Ohio," whichintercuts footage of the Kent State massacre and photos of the four students who were killed. More than 40 years later, the fact of live ammunition being used against the unarmed students remains shocking. I do not understand why the order to fire was ever given. But more than that, I don't understand why the guardsmen, many of them the same age as their victims, pulled their triggers. Don't talk to me about military discipline, not in a context like this. Nobody is ever gone. You keep them in your memory. -Roger Ebert is a film critic for The Chicago Sun-Times.
Courtesy TriStar Pictures
Sparkle (Jordin Sparks) and Emma (Whitney Houston) star in "Sparkle."
'Sparkle' is a sparkling swan song for Houston
"s
parkle" commands attention because it's the last movie for Whitney Houston and the first for "American Idol" winner Jordin Sparks. The film tells the story of three sisters who want to become the next Supremes over the protestations of their church-going single mom (Houston), a former R&B singer who got burned by the music biz. No, this isn't a redo of "Dreamgirls." This is a makeover of 1976's "Sparkle," which starred "Flashdance" singer Irene Cara. Houston was 13 when it came out, and the film reportedly inspired her so much that she watched it over and over as a teenager, and later secured the remake rights. Houston, who died three months after filming wrapped, holds her own, though she looks a bit out of it at times. The camera adores Sparks, though she is no Jennifer Hudson. The music and characterizations are strong. But what prevents "Sparkle" from shimmering is a predictable plot. In short: The oldest daughter and lead singer, Sister (the tough and sultry Carmen Ejogo), moves in with a highliving comedian (the pimpish
JON BREAM
"Sparkle" 116 minutes PG-13 for violence, drugs, domestic abuse and language
Mike Epps). When Sister ends up in jail for accidentally killing her abusive beau and the middle sister goes off to college, Sparkle (Sparks), a reluctant singer but gifted songwriter, steps up to the microphone solo. And - guess what? - Houston, the conflicted but proud mama, is clapping in the theater. "The Bodyguard" star gives a curious performance in her final role, which is a modest one. At times, she looks to be in a glassy-eyed haze, which doesn't befit a rehabbed, Bible-teaching dress-shop owner. Her lone vocal performance comes on "His Eye Is on the Sparrow," an old spiritual, and her once-gorgeous, stratospheric voice sounds weathered and dulled. But she looks clear-eyed and handsome when she shows up at Sparkle's big concert. As the insecure, innocent in-
genue, Sparks, 22, seems a bit tentative at first. But, like her character, she gains her footing. The scene in which she and Houston have the big argument about Sparkle moving out of the comfortable family home to pursue her musical dreams is so powerful that it doesn't feel like acting. One disconnect throughout the movie, though, is Sparks' hair, which is too long and luxe for a black woman of that era (the film is set in 1968 Detroit); most of the other characters look more authentic. As a singer, Sparks shines. Her payoff tune is the R. Kellypenned "One Wing," which could be a female answer to his "I Believe I Can Fly." Kelly wrote three new numbers for Sparks. The film also reprises some Curtis Mayfield-written selections from the original "Sparkle," including "Something He Can Feel." Sparks already has started shooting her second film, a music-free indie drama with former "Idol" finalist Hudson, who won a best supporting Oscar for her debut in "Dreamgirls." If Sparks goes on to enjoy success on the screen, "Sparkle" will be remembered as her first film; otherwise it's destined to be known only as Houston's last role. -Jon Bream is a film critic for the Minneapolis Star Tribune.