Lounge of Tomorrow - At the Cinema

The Agony and Ecstasy of Phil Spector at the Egyptian on Hollywood for one week.

"Phil Spector’s openness and ability to discuss some of his greatest collaborations (The Ronettes, John Lennon, The Beatles, The Righteous Brothers, and The Crystals) stem from the mindset of facing a possible conviction and sentencing. He is unafraid to malign, among others, Tony Bennett (the person he regards most as overrated it would seem), Paul McCartney (when discussing how Spector felt about McCartney re-releasing the Let It Be album without Phil Spector’s production and arrangements, he said, “He has me mixed up with somebody who gives a ****”), and Yoko Ono (on producing her music, he asserts, “I had to pass on that”)."

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I saw the movie last night and enjoyed it. The film itself is poorly made and sort of a mess, but the interview itself is so great that it more than makes up for the rest of the film. The director relies heavily on Lennon songs, and plays most his choices in their entirety, which is great, but sometimes he'll play the same song twice -- back to back! Why? I don't know. To fill up space?

The director, Vikram Jayanti, was there last night (and may be again, you'll have to check the schedule) but he did not have much to add, and what he did say did not help his case that he was the right man for the job. He even admitted that he did NO research before interviewing Spector, which reveals a level of ignorance that is maddening.

Worse, he told a story about how he was supposed to have five days of filming with Spector (but only got one due to scheduling conflicts) and how he planned on using the other four to make a parody of "Mean Streets" with Spector in the role of Keitel. The film explains his asinine reasoning for trying to make the parody, but when you consider that this film represents the only time the man has ever been interviewed, you can only shake you head and think, 'what an idiot.'

But, like I said, this is the only time Spector has talked about his music and that makes this film a real find for music lovers.

Tref sez, check it out.

(Pic related -- it's Phillip Spector)