Ryan McNeil
After a while, you need to reset. After a string of exposing yourself to all sorts of new information, you find yourself needing to go back to something familiar to cleanse the palette, to take some comfort and digest everything you’ve just consumed. In this respect, AMAZING JOURNEY – THE STORY OF THE WHO ( * * 1/2 ) was perfectly timed for me as a day nine show.
The doc is the first to be completely authorized by the band, and with a two hour running time, it is rather comprehensive. One could come in knowing absolutely zero about the band, and walk out knowing everything they need to know. The screening was a great time, with the crowd populated by a great number of Who fans. The film makers were in attendance and hosted a rather good q&a after the movie, during which it was easy to see that they were all also big fans themselves.
Going back to that musical DNA of mine I’ve mentioned once or twice, The Who are higher up the chart for me, so as a fan this film was a blast. Here’s the hitch – as a documentary, it’s not terribly innovative. It’s your standard talking heads/live footage/song-photo-song rock doc. It doesn’t tell as good a story as METALLICA: SOME KIND OF MONSTER or DIXIE CHICKS: SHUT UP AND SING.
The film shows again this afternoon at The Visa Screening Room, and will be available on DVD this November.