Review of The Last Waltz (1978) by Sam B — 25 Feb 2011
Its pretty disappointing how fixated Scorsese is with Robbie Robertson. During all of the live show the camera is fixated on him and during the interview sessions no one else gets a word in. Some parts of the concert are amazing and it all looks spectacular but I can't help but feel like a lot of it is forced.
Because it was so meticulously planned by Scorsese beforehand, nothing feels too genuine. It seems like he wants it to feel like Woodstock or something from the Maysles but its all too heavily controlled for anything exciting to truly happen.
It also seems like everyone involved is doing way too much cocaine. A fun game might be to watch Neil Young throughout the movie just to see how frighteningly coked up he is. The saving grace for the movie is the music which is consistently pretty awesome and powerful.
If this had just been a concert movie without the footage of The Band backstage it might have actually worked better.
This review of The Last Waltz (1978) was written by Sam B on 25 Feb 2011.
The Last Waltz has generally received very positive reviews.
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