Review of Pearl Jam Twenty (2011) by Charles H — 29 Oct 2011

Cameron Crowe's excellent documentary is part retrospective / part fan film, with a bountiful supply of unaired footage featuring one of modern music's most recognizable names. Perhaps no other band has ever been so private with respect to its members' lives, and yet has striven to ensure an unprecedented level of fan accessibility as far as their music is concerned.

The esteem that the director holds for his subject is apparent from the start, but should not be regarded as a quality that detracts from the film's overall effect. Right away, the focus is established on how these individuals came together from their assorted backgrounds, landing in an exploding Seattle music scene, and then found a musical connection that is so rarely achieved, and even rarer to be sustained for twenty years and counting.

This is a documentary purposely designed to exclude reflections from journalists, music critics, promoters, producers, and all relatives and non-music industry friends of the band members themselves. Other than the current band members, the only additional, new interview footage is with Chris Cornell, a fellow Seattle music celebrity who played a significant role during the band's early years.

This is not an expose or character study. All discussions relate back to the music itself: the bands that members were in prior to Pearl Jam, the initial thoughts on the demo tape featuring vocals from a then-undiscovered California surfer/security guard that reached the others in Seattle, the decidedly cramped, untidy spaces where they first came together to practice and eventually hone their stage performances, and certainly the discomfort they felt upon being pigeon-holed as a "grunge band" strictly for marketing purposes.

There are too many highlights to list, but a few moments I especially liked include: claustrophobic scenes from an early European concert where the band was jammed together tightly and the audience was literally positioned inches away, practically on top of them; the archive footage of Kurt Cobain talking about Eddie and the band, reneging on his initial criticisms, soon followed up with Eddie addressing a concert crowd on the day of Kurt's passing, taking a moment to pay a very personal, impromptu tribute; Stone Gossard's unremarkable display(?) space for the Grammy P.

J. won in 1996; and the Madison Square Garden show where a majority of the audience appears to actually be booing the band's performance of "Bushleaguer" - a politically charged tune criticizing a certain President the band disagreed with.

There are a few things missing I would have liked to have seen as well, such as an interview with one-time drummer, Jack Irons, and a discussion of the band's singularly unique decision to make dozens of individual concerts, entire tours, in fact, available to fans for purchase.

However, the exclusion of a few worthwhile discussions and mentions does not make the final project feel incomplete at all. What Crowe accomplishes is a film that spoke to my sense of nostalgia, taking me back to my teenage years, recalling how important music has been to my life, and reminding me why I have always appreciated a band like Pearl Jam for daring to make music fueled by actual inspiration, rather than the potential to maximize proceeds.