Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man

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REVISED TUESDAY, 17 JULY 2007, AT 12.34 HOURS

(c) ajmalouin 2006
(Rating: 3 by Al)
(2005—Lian Lunson—USA) (1 hr 38. Rated PG-13 for some sex-related material.)

Wellllll, we didn’t review this in time to warn you to see it during its (only) week-long run in our local theatres. Now you’re going to have to travel far to see it, or, permaybe, watch it on DVD — when and IF it becomes available on DVD — within the distracting surroundings of your own home, and on a screen that is tiny compared to that of a movie theatre.

“Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man” is the second best concert film that Al has ever seen.(1) It documents the “Came So Far For Beauty” music concert which took place at the 2005 Sidney Festival in January of that year. It’s a tribute concert, with many artists coming together in Sidney to perform the songs of Leonard Cohen. Scattered between the performances are conversations with Leonard Cohen which took place in Los Angeles.

You ought to know Leonard Cohen if you don’t. If you don’t know much about Leonard Cohen, “…I’m Your Man” is the perfect primer for an Executive Summary of his songs and poetry.

Just after seeing this film, Al sat in the hot July sunset of an outdoor meal with his friend, P., discussing how life comes and goes with all of us.

Deep into his second iced tea, P. started talking about Leonard Cohen and couldn’t stop. Being a musician, a published poet and novelist, and stuff like that, P. knows of what he speaks. Now gracefully cascading into his mid-50s, P. has been a witness to Leonard Cohen’s genius ever since he began reading Cohen’s poetry in the 10th grade.

When the meal was over, Al walked out with three Leonard Cohen CDs that P. had just burned for a former lover, days after seeing “Leonard Cohen: I’m Your Man.”
“I can always burn more,” he summarized.

People who are Leonard Cohen fanatics (as is P.) will be disappointed in this film. There is only one actual performance by Leonard Cohen, and it comes at the end of the film. It is a stunner, however, as Cohen performs “Tower of Song” backed up by Bono and the guitarist known as The Edge.

Earlier in the film, a loverly gaggle of performers cover songs from the library Cohen has concocted so far. Many of these songs feature deeply moving close-ups of the performers who then rush off stage as if they had been destroyed by the music.

Especially outstanding covers are delivered by Anthony, Beth Orton and Jarvis Cocker, Martha Wainwright, and Rufus Wainwright. Anthony does a superb cover of “If It Be Your Will.” Martha Wainwright is superb on “The Traitor.” Rufus Wainwright is superb on a samba (?) cover of “Everybody Knows” and on “Hallelujah.” Going in, it doesn’t matter whether or not you know all these artists or know all these songs: coming out, you will love them all.

The music, however, is only part of the film. Just as charming and riveting are the conversations from Cohen. He grew up on Montreal and as a young man migrated to New York City, where he crossed paths with other artists (in the Chelsea Hotel) including Janis Joplin.

Cohen says that, as a child, the poetry in the Jewish liturgy sent shivers down his spine. Meanwhile, he also got formative input from D.C. comics such as “Aquaman” and “Spider-Man.”

In Montreal, Cohen was influenced by the sensual, tactile throbbings of the city’s towering church spires.

In NYC, as Beth Orton says in the film, Cohen came to learn how artists played (and played with) the media and the marketplace. In America, Americans had much bigger visions of what they could be in the marketplace.

The film describes Cohen as a disciple of Black Comedy and dark lyrics. He is, however, a disciple who is soooo talented that he puts a thousand different hues and shadings upon the blackness.

Throughout his conversations Cohen is charming, interesting and self-deprecating. There is an especially wonderful section wherein Cohen reads aloud the introduction he wrote for the Chinese edition of his book BEAUTIFUL LOSERS. It is apologetic for perhaps wasting the time of the Chinese reader. It is as wonderful as Cohen’s poetry, as wonderful as his song lyrics, as wonderful as his stories and conversation inside this film. That preface is witty, penetrating and delicious, and Al wishes he had a copy of it.

Somehow, somewhere, do not miss seeing this film. (1 hr 38. Rated PG-13 for some sex-related material. In English. With, in alphabetical order, Perla Batalla, Bono, Robert Burger, Nick Cave, Julie Christensen, Adam Clayton, Jarvis Cocker, Leonard Cohen, Antony Hegarty, Anna McGarrigle, Kate McGarrigle, Larry Mullen Jr., Beth Orton, Brett Sparks, Rennie Sparks, The Edge, Linda Thompson, Teddy Thompson, Martha Wainwright, and Rufus Wainwright, all playing themselves, and playing the music.)

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(1) Al’s favorite concert film is “Stop Making Sense” (1984—Jonathan Demme–USA) (1 hr 22. Certification Rating not available.)