Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band
Join Asheville Movie Guys for a hosted screening of this film at 7:20 p.m. Monday, March 2, at the Fine Arts Theatre. Learn more on Facebook. For info on discounted admission and free popcorn, join the Asheville Movie Guys mailing list by emailing ashevillemovies@gmail.com.
In the spirit of last year’s Pavarotti documentary comes Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band, another music-centric film from Ron Howard’s Imagine production company (although this one is directed by Daniel Roher, making his feature doc debut). Like Pavarotti, this is a largely upbeat affair, intended to bring smiles to the faces of fans and only occasional shakes of the head at the musicians’ misdeeds.
The film was inspired by Robertson’s 2017 memoir, Testimony, but limits itself to Robertson’s early life and the history of The Band. As you would expect from Imagine, it’s slick and star-studded, with fresh and archival interviews with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Ronnie Hawkins, Martin Scorsese, Peter Gabriel, Van Morrison, David Geffen, and others. As you would also expect from Imagine, it’s entertaining and informative and maintains a brisk pace. (Blink and you’ll miss Woodstock.)
Robertson is now 76, but the film focuses on his life from age 16 until 33, when The Band gave its famous, final performance, The Last Waltz, documented by Scorsese’s concert film. Brothers doesn’t break any new ground, but it covers those 17 years with intelligence, insight, and enthusiasm, making a good case for the magic and musical history created by this quintet of four Canadians and one American (drummer and singer Levon Helm).
The Band was well-documented both on film and, as seen here, by fine photographers, whose work is a keystone to Brothers’ “a look back” aesthetic. Skillful editing turns photographers’ proof sheets into virtual animations and into windows into the past — often featuring actual windows. It’s nostalgic without being sentimental.
Uncomfortable topics — The Band’s desertion of Hawkins, who put the group together; the destructive drug use by several members; Helms’ bitter feud with Robertson later in life — are not so much glossed over as handled gently. The substance abuse in particular, because of its considerable impact on The Band, is amply discussed, its consequences illustrated in part by the stories of repeated car accidents around The Band’s Big Pink headquarters in Woodstock, New York.
Anyone who loves this music needs to see this film, particularly since the wide-ranging influence of The Band doesn’t get the attention it clearly deserves. Just ask Eric Clapton, who left Cream after hearing their debut LP, Music From Big Pink album. Even if the arc of The Band’s history is already familiar to you, you’ll be buoyed by the film’s generous servings of rehearsal and live performance footage. And if you’re not too familiar with The Band, well, come on and take a load off.
Grade: A-minus. Rated R (for language). Opens February 28 at the Fine Arts Theatre.
(Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures)
