This was really, really good, though I think you probably need to be at least a bit of a fan to fully appreciate it. It's a concert film, documenting the premiere of "Prairie Wind" (David thought that it might have been filmed over two nights) - a show built around songs from that recent album - at the famous Ryman Auditorium in Nashville, Tennessee. Leads in with short grabs from Young and each of his band members (including the ageless Emmylou Harris) which set the scene and build a sense of anticipation for the concert to follow, and then gets into the music - the first two-thirds or so taken exclusively from the Prairie Wind record, I think, followed by a curtain fall and then some older material and (I think) ending with one or maybe two again from the album which gives the show its name (and which I haven't listened to).
From the first song, Young and his band (nearly all around Young's age - ie, not young at all (ahem) - and all either utterly into it or so utterly blase as to've almost come out the other side) - hold the audience in the palm of their collective hand, and the long run of unfamiliar (to me) cuts all come through clearly, each with its own distinct character and nearly all memorable. It's tilted towards the country end of Young's oeuvre, lap steel prominent and harmonica frequently in evidence, and tends slightly towards the grand - choruses in particular tending to be punctuated by harmony vocals, crunching drums and sometimes even horns. But of course, it was the ones that I actually knew, all in a row at the end, which most came alive for me - "Old Man", "Heart of Gold", "The Needle and the Damage Done" and "Comes a Time"...
Young himself comes across as very humble and unassuming, speaking simply but movingly of his then-recently deceased father and his college-aged daughter, getting a round of applause after declaring that although Nashville might have changed since the days of Hank Williams, the spirit is still there, and later delivering some heartfelt musings on the guitar he's playing at the time, which belonged to Hank back in the day. That oft-remarked contrast between his bearish physique and the tenderness with which he so often sings is in full evidence - the falsetto gets a bit of a workout - and he's really in fine voice, with the backing band as tight as you could ask for. Rumours have been going around for a while that he may be coming down to Australia later this year, possibly unplugged - bring it on.
The film's directed by Jonathan Demme of Silence of the Lambs and, more relevantly, Stop Making Sense fame (and no doubt others), and has something of a resemblance to that latter in terms of what I can only describe as a certain flatness of style as well as a particular manner of handling light and shadows. Crowd shots kept to an absolute minimum and there's relatively little cutting - most of it's in the 'crowd's eye' view, with plenty of close-ups, giving the production a sense of immediacy and intimacy. I was in a pretty good mood anyway and Heart of Gold left me soul-warmed and satisfied.
