Viewed in
2011
Formats
HDTV on demand
Premise
Cameron Crowe directs a documentary about Pearl Jam's 20th anniversary.
Loved
The music.
Liked
The array of topics, light and dark.
Thoughts
Much like Pearl Jam: Immagine in Cornice - Live in Italy 2006, I'm not sure if I'm the right person to give you a fair review because of my irrational love for the greatest rock band of my lifetime.
As a fan, I thoroughly enjoyed this film. There was so much never before seen vintage footage of their early years and behind the scenes, such as Eddie Vedder's penchant for climbing giant struts and concert structures. Coming from a pre-internet world, such tales could only be disseminated via anecdotes. Finally watching moments like those on film gave me a better sense of their history. In addition, the entire film was littered with live and rare performances. Which naturally made me giddy.
I appreciated that Crowe tried his darndest to make it more than a standard music documentary. He attempted this by capturing the emotions of the band members as they reminisce their past, instead of just having them just talking about events that can easily be found online. Their story simply wasn't that intriguing, which was a big reason why Pearl Jam's been able to last this long: no drama. Having said that, they were open about some of their darker moments, such as addiction, Andrew Wood, Kurt Cobain, Ticketmaster, and Roskilde. Personally, I had read about that tragedy but thought little of it. Watching the band struggle with it on video gave me much-needed emotional context of that page-turning moment.
Since I loved every minute of this documentary, I found no flaws. For fans like me, Pearl Jam Twenty was a must see.
What I would change
Nothing of course =P
