What drives a Kiwi, who was 8 years old when they split, to make a film about the “Fab Four”? What drove a million Americans to buy one of their albums in 2020? And a multinational like Disney to invest millions of dollars to restore their penultimate recording session, 52 years later? Obviously, the Liverpool quartet continue to fascinate people who did not know them in their lifetime. And to this intact cult is added the nostalgia for an idealized era and that of the photo-novel of four cute and funny kids who put their world at their feet.
Sad bamba
Even clearer: from May 1970, the documentary Let It Be, by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, chronicled the three weeks devoted, in January 1969, to the composition and then the recording of the eponymous album. It featured George Harrison slamming the studio door for ten days, Lennon and McCartney getting bogged down, and the energized group depressed under the faint eye of the “witch” Yoko Ono.
Yes, but what the story didn’t say was that Lindsay-Hogg had 60 hours of footage and 150 hours of audio at his disposal, of which he had only taken 81 minutes at the time. This treasure had been sleeping for half a century in the cupboards of Apple Records, the company founded by the group. Fan of the Beatles, Peter Jackson accepted the proposal to make a series of three times 2:30, one by one these 21 days in the relative intimacy of the studio. Far from the vision of his English predecessor, the director of Lord of the Rings shows a more smiling agony. A kind of sad bamba, without villain or culprit, which is above all a fascinating dive into the creative process of The Beatles.
Clown eaters
It’s very often funny because these Englishmen were after all hellish clown-eaters. Besides, it starts right away when a banner added by Disney + warns us that “raw language, adult themes and smoking” will be on the program. Indeed, we will not be disappointed. For example when Lennon replaces the Everybody had a hard year of the song I’ve Got a Feeling through Everybody had a hard on (“Everyone had the pole”). Or when, seeing a Hare Krishna hanging out in the studio, he clarifies that he is ” own ».
Locked in the huge London studio at Twickenham all day, surrounded by a film crew and a myriad of assistants, producers, engineers and various curious people, The Beatles seem to be the main attraction of a circus and openly hate it. The idea of being filmed while they canning fourteen songs in three weeks is theirs. And they clearly seem to regret it. Yet even exhausted, edgy and nostalgic for their nightly sessions at Abbey Road, they are still 26-28 year old kids sitting in a circle making music.
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Contrary to what one might think, the main attraction of the docu is even “baby George” Harrison, 25 years old. Frustrated to be the youngest crushed by John and Paul, he questions the authority of the latter and multiplies the proposals of “Harrisongs”. The scene from the first episode, which sees McCartney answering a very softly convinced “yes” to his requests, is hilarious.
“Macca”, solar figure
The surprise lies in Lennon’s apathy. Almost dumb, he churns out jokes and seems resigned to leaving the controls to Paul. The heroine that makes it stone is no stranger to it but Get Back confirms that, from this beginning 69, he is no longer there. The announcement of the separation in April 1970 will only formalize this state of affairs … Another attraction that we waited with curiosity, the presence of Yoko Ono. Constantly seated next to her future husband, she remains as impassive as Ringo Starr (that is to say), sewing or reading the newspaper. Even when the boys string together saucy allusions.
The film confirms that the locomotive of the lot is indeed “Macca”, a solar figure, always positive, shaking off the apathy of his colleagues. Lindsay-Hogg’s camera films him creating the song in minutes Get Back, immortal standard. Mind boggling.
Despite the tensions, and the depression born of the death of their manager Brian Epstein eighteen months before, these geniuses compose about thirty titles in three weeks. They will appear on the albums Let It Be and Abbey Road released in the following months. They do it by multiplying the floodgates, even when Harrison pulls himself out with a crash. ” If he doesn’t come back, we call Eric Clapton John squeaks, who knows that George is complex in front of the guitarist. They mostly do all of this by playing, playing, playing, and having a crazy time doing it – that’s the main happiness that the documentary brings. The four will only meet once in the studio, the following summer, to complete Abbey Road. And we think back to this umpteenth galéjade addressed by John to Paul: ” Leave the group if you don’t like it … »To die yes. But standing up, and having fun.
« Get Back ». Peter Jackson. Disponible sur Disney +.
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