Imagine this image 1,000 times bigger and in 3D, and just try not to be terrified
Shine a Light brings IMAX audiences the spectacle of a six-storey Mick Jagger pushing his chest out and shaking his bones in all of the faux-feminine pomp that made him famous, all the while flanked by his two mad guitarists — Keith Richards’s twisted gypsy persona on the left and Ronnie Wood’s harsh-angled leer to his right. Behind this cavorting cadre sits Charlie Watts, his demure, grandfatherly form a perfect counterpoint to the purse-lipped strutting as he patiently lays the rhythmic foundation for a true resurgence of rock-stardom. The four of them together remind the world how old they are, how rich they are, how they long ago became an institution. Within the machine, though, the collective ghost of countless blues and rock inspirations make their presence known through these swinging sexagenarians, confirming that the Rolling Stones still love being onstage and playing music. The Stones are a part of an ongoing history, and as phony as their country twang and Delta blues wailing may be, they serve as a happily subversive interpretation of a tradition that doesn’t happen to be theirs by birthright.
Shine a Light captures the spirit of the band with its comedic energy, highlighted by Martin Scorsese’s early and desperate attempts to corral the band and establish a set list to which he can match his alternately sweeping and intimate camera movements. Later, clips of the band’s past television and live appearances are interspersed throughout the rollicking set at the Beacon Theatre in New York. The audience can soak in a few naive career prognostications and drug-addled conversational miscues with various television show hosts before returning to the show at hand, so many years later. Thanks to a legendary director’s efforts on Shine a Light, if only for one performance, the Rolling Stones shine again onstage and in the minds of music fans.
Another rock institution, Irish super-band U2, appears in its own release, U2 3D, a pure concert film buttressed by 3ality’s revolutionary, horn-rimmed 3D glasses technology. The audience puts on its Jack Ruby shades, still far more stylish than previous cardboard-and-cellophane models, and waits for the three-dimensional fun to begin. The lights in the theatre go down and the sea of humanity in Buenos Aires fades in. The crowd actually appears to be on the other side of the screen, humming with anticipation.
The technology works, if one ignores problems with clarity in certain shots. No one would say it’s even better than the real thing, but the audience generally feels like it is right in the mix, and this is ironically most true in the case of distant shots in which the band is real-size onscreen. Like all novelties, the effect diminishes as time goes on, which was a bit of a shame in the case of U2 3D, considering that 3D visuals are the only real justification for another U2 concert film. As amazing as Bono and the Edge’s mastery over an audience lathered into a personality-cult frenzy is, one U2 performance is much the same as the last. It is a treat made mostly with vanilla, topped with just the right amount of socio-political righteous Edge. In the end, the band and the movie strike a balance with enough genuine showmanship that the effects, both visual and emotional, are good.
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