Region 2+4, Blast! Films, 2 | entertain, BBC.
Written by Robert Jones, directed by Edmund Coulthard.
With C. Eccleston, N. Mori, C. Fairbank, R. Kinnear et al.
"For contractual reasons, certain music edits have been made," says it on the cover. And that's right, BBC didn't dish out on the Beatles stuff - and subsequently there's only John Lennon solo material and original score as the soundtrack for the film version released on DVD.
It starts now with what's probably the poorest choice of all changes, 'Look At Me' - instead of the engagingly trippy original beginning - which I loved since I heard it first in May. And in a way it sets the mood and pace for the rest of the feature. I'll leave it to the experts to judge the validity of stand-in tracks, but - while certain connecting scenes benefited from loosing explicit commentary in the form of the lyrics, overall the change from the Beatles trademark melodious mix of light and dark to relentlessness and sort of severity of Lennon's tunes did introduce a new somewhat solemn, or jaded shade to the film.
On the picture side, there are thankfully no adjustments, no cuts. DVD doesn't offer anything else but English HOH subtitles - which is of course a shame. Still, it is a nice gesture to make the film available to worldwide audiences so soon after the première - and I'm certain it's absolutely possible to enjoy 'Lennon Naked' whatever the version, thanks to Christopher Eccleston's outstanding performance.
/Alex
2010-06-29
Main 'Lennon Naked' post.
Written by Robert Jones, directed by Edmund Coulthard.
With C. Eccleston, N. Mori, C. Fairbank, R. Kinnear et al.
"For contractual reasons, certain music edits have been made," says it on the cover. And that's right, BBC didn't dish out on the Beatles stuff - and subsequently there's only John Lennon solo material and original score as the soundtrack for the film version released on DVD.
It starts now with what's probably the poorest choice of all changes, 'Look At Me' - instead of the engagingly trippy original beginning - which I loved since I heard it first in May. And in a way it sets the mood and pace for the rest of the feature. I'll leave it to the experts to judge the validity of stand-in tracks, but - while certain connecting scenes benefited from loosing explicit commentary in the form of the lyrics, overall the change from the Beatles trademark melodious mix of light and dark to relentlessness and sort of severity of Lennon's tunes did introduce a new somewhat solemn, or jaded shade to the film.
On the picture side, there are thankfully no adjustments, no cuts. DVD doesn't offer anything else but English HOH subtitles - which is of course a shame. Still, it is a nice gesture to make the film available to worldwide audiences so soon after the première - and I'm certain it's absolutely possible to enjoy 'Lennon Naked' whatever the version, thanks to Christopher Eccleston's outstanding performance.
/Alex
2010-06-29
Main 'Lennon Naked' post.
