Neil Young: Don't Be Denied (2009)
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Winning documentary from the American Masters series takes a look at the career of Neil Young. At just 54-minutes one shouldn't expect some deep look at Young's career but for the most part I think the film does a good job at giving people the basic information and if they want to know more than God knows there are countless other books and documentaries out there. The film starts with Young's early career in Toronto and then goes to the Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Crazy Horse and various other solo outings. Like most documentaries on any artist it pretty much overlooks some of the lesser known stuff, although Young's battle with Geffen is mentioned and briefly discussed. I think what works so well about this documentary is that it gives people who might not know about Young's career a brief look at what makes him so special. We got clips from countless songs including Ohio, Heart of Gold, Old Man, After the Gold Rush and several others. Even better is that we get interview clips with Young himself who constantly makes it very clear that he's not in it for the money or women but instead he's there for the music and will go wherever the music takes him. Stills, Nash, Crosby and James Taylor are among the people interviewed and they discuss Young's need to try new things and never get tied down to one genre. NEIL YOUNG: DON'T BE DENIED could have been even stronger had it ran another hour but this is still a good way to turn someone on to his music.
*** 1/2 (out of 4)
Winning documentary from the American Masters series takes a look at the career of Neil Young. At just 54-minutes one shouldn't expect some deep look at Young's career but for the most part I think the film does a good job at giving people the basic information and if they want to know more than God knows there are countless other books and documentaries out there. The film starts with Young's early career in Toronto and then goes to the Buffalo Springfield, CSN&Y, Crazy Horse and various other solo outings. Like most documentaries on any artist it pretty much overlooks some of the lesser known stuff, although Young's battle with Geffen is mentioned and briefly discussed. I think what works so well about this documentary is that it gives people who might not know about Young's career a brief look at what makes him so special. We got clips from countless songs including Ohio, Heart of Gold, Old Man, After the Gold Rush and several others. Even better is that we get interview clips with Young himself who constantly makes it very clear that he's not in it for the money or women but instead he's there for the music and will go wherever the music takes him. Stills, Nash, Crosby and James Taylor are among the people interviewed and they discuss Young's need to try new things and never get tied down to one genre. NEIL YOUNG: DON'T BE DENIED could have been even stronger had it ran another hour but this is still a good way to turn someone on to his music.
