Nothing Makes You Look Older Than Trying To Be Younger Than You Actually Are

Scorcese’s long running love affair with music - first cemented with The Last Waltz, confirmed with Bowie’s best ever role in “After Hours” and the Dylan documentaries- becomes full scale flesh with “Shine A Light”. Ostensibly a record of a Rolling Stones concert in New York, “Shine A Light” is an unwitting comedy classic.

There were guffaws at the screen from the mostly late-middle aged of white hair and leather jackets with every outrageous archive interview statement from a po-faced Keef Richards, every bizarre haircut from the age style forgot with Sir Michael Philip “Mick” Jagger clearly fucking with interviewers, every craggy faced grimace from the band as they trade out Ancient Rock Riffs, or Jagger as he pouts and preens as a sexagenarian jogs and runs around the stage in an impossibly expensive shirt and becomes a one dimensional walkin’ talkin’ rock’n’roll cliche. He jumps and preens and pouts, an old man playing a young game, and looks absolutely fucking ridiculous. If this film has a message or a moral, without even meaning it, it is : Nothing Looks Stupider Than Trying To Look Younger Than You Are.

On the big screen, the lens of fame magnifies and distorts all things to a set of simple caricatures. If I were to describe a rock star with a swagger, or a pair of lips, or sunglasses, or a hat, you could probably guess which rock star I was talking about. For example if I said there was a rock star whose face looks as if it was cut from a cliff face, hair smeared in Vaseline, and drowned in bangles, you’d know there’s only one rock star that fits that bill : Keef Richards.

Keef swaggers. Keef kneels. Keef self-consciously aware of his mythology, reverts to type, jiggles the way you expect him to, and plays the role of Keef Richards, Aging Rock Star as he passes a guitar pick to yet another pretty girl in the front row. So much so that this film isn’t a documentary or a concert film, but an obviously fictionalised version of a Rolling Stones concert : with clearly staged shots and impossible CGI sweeps that clearly break the moment and drag the viewer out of the feeling and into the realm of cinema.

But there’s more to it than that : aside from some of most efficient and effectively shot concert of all time (aided by a list of cinematographers that are a Who’s Who Of The Best Camera Guys In The World that make “Shine A Light“ a visual feast of wrinkles), there’s a subtle and effective underpinning of the concert footage with deftly chosen archive interview footage - seemingly chosen to evoke laughter at the very stupid bombast of rock - and preceded and book ended by mini documentaries into the stupid world of fame.

This is what fame is like, Charlie Watts makes clear with his subtle glances and interaction with the camera : after meeting the Clintons, he is clearly dismayed to then meet an extended selection of Clinton hanger-ons, third cousins twice removed and pose for photos with near enough everyone in the entire city. Jagger manipulates the situation to discuss the minuatae of the setlist, the positioning of the stage, the exact number of seconds he can stand under a spotlight before receiving retina damage : a deeply cynical yet astute businessman whose job is to be a high-speed musical performance athelete. With $437,000,000 riding on the tour this film is culled from, it’s clear that Jagger, Richards, Watts, the lesser-seen Skeletor of Ronnie Wood - alongside the rarely seen session bassist, keyboardist, three backup singers, horn section, guest vocalists and a front row of strategically placed young purty girls who don’t know the songs - all exist in this moment solely for the purpose of being documented on camera.

What is also apparent is that there are no fat, or old, or male Rolling Stones fans. Aside from Bill Clinton. Clinton, incidentally, still wears a suit to rock out. Never trust a man in a suit.

Oh yes, the music. None of it under twenty five years old, apart from a couple of cover versions. The ragged (but immaculately mixed) soundtrack - alongside the visuals - sees the band attempting once again to self-mythologise and preserve themselves on film. Fundamentally, this film sees The Stones as much better than they actually are, views them under the uncritical eye of a fan, and sets them more as unquestionable modern heroes. With Shine A Light Scorcese has missed the opportunity to present a modern day “Cocksucker Blues” that would reveal the true machinations of the band in favour of a glossy wrinkles and all set that takes the modern concert film and films it as one would a multi-camera action sequence, with precision and artistry. “Shine A Light” is an OK film, but you have to be a fan of the band to see any worth in it. Seen as a comic reflection upon the absurdity of fame and the indignity of hard rocking pensioners, it’s a sly comment of no small tragedy that perhaps has a greater meaning than ever intended.

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