A day after watching Part One of Martin Scorceses' George Harrison bio "Living In The Material World" and being somewhat disappointed , I caught Cameron Crowe's Pearl Jam bio "20" and was much happier with the results. Here is why:
1. I am not a big fan of Pearl Jam, I think they're good live but Eddie Vedder is too needy as a singer. They're OK, they're not Nirvana. So I have much less at stake.
2. Cameron Crowe, os just about the telling of their story.And in just about the same running time as Scorcese covers much more ground and four peoples lives by the expedient way of ignoring the five members private lives nearly entirely. For instance, is any member of the band married? Do they have children? The answer is a resounding yes but what would be a momentous occasion for the boys isn't referenced. This frees Crowe to concentrate on the music and the business of being Pearl Jam.
"20" (a reference to PJ's 20th year of existence) starts the story with Stone Gossard and Jeff Ament's first band, Mother Love Bone and the lead singer Andy Wood who was leading them to stardom before he died of a drug overdose. Reeling from the loss, some six months later they sent tapes of their music out and about and requested singer/lyricists respond. Eddie Vedder did and the rest is history.
Pearl Jam wrote the coattails of Seattle's grunge scene to become one of the most successful bands of the 1990s. At first seen as Nirvana wannabes, they maintained their self control and their dignity (receiving a Grammy, Vedder declared in meaningless in the middle f the awards ceremony) and rode the wild tiger of stardom till the present day. Through stardom here, fights with Ticketmaster there (I saw em at Randalls Island in 1995 and let me tell you, it was a bitch getting a ticket) and flop albums everywhere, they remained a self contained entity.
Crowe inserts present day interviews with archive footage telling a linear story of their rise but never fall. Is it a true picture of the band? Yeah, as far as it goes. It isn't gossipy, it isn't "fun", it is straight up no chaser PJ and if I was a bigger fan I might find strange discrepancies in the story. But I'm not, so hints of drug abuse doesn't trigger a story not being told for me.
As a director, Crowe has a streamlined style that Scorcese is too busy to use on his Harrison bio. Crowe's story telling is clear and concise, he gets and appreciates the music and he uses it very well, especially three songs near the end. Vedder singing Andy Wood's "Thorn Of Crowns" ; MSG singing "Better Man" back to the band, and a finale of "Alive".
As much as Pearl Jam can irritate me, Crowe makes a valid case for PJ remaining one of the greatest of American bands.
Movie: A-
Music: A-