DVDs in Review

When You’re Strange (Tom DiCillo, 2009)

Title: When You’re Strange (Tom DiCillo, 2009)

Release date: August 30 2010

Certificate: E

Format: DVD, Blu-ray

DVD RRP: £17.99

Rating: 4/5

Reviewed by Dave Lancaster

‘When You’re Strange’ chronicles the formation and untimely demise of the classic rock band The Doors, in particular its charismatic and increasingly unstable frontman Jim Morrison.

Instead of opting for talking heads looking back hazily over the past decades, director Tom DiCillo exclusively uses original footage shot between 1966 and 1971, drafting in Johnny Depp to charismatically deliver the ‘Fear and Loathing’ style narration. It gives the film a poetic, larger than life and enigmatic quality that perfectly reflects the unique music of the band.

What is most startling is the uncovering of a seldom seen short film Jim Morrison starred in which sees him drive across America somewhat aimlessly, like the “killer on the road” from ‘Riders on the Storm’.

DiCillo shows us pretty much all of it, but cuts back and forth between it and the rest of the documentary, using the stunningly sharp footage sparingly and tying the images in with the narration to cryptic effect. Like the use of vintage interviews of John Lennon in the Beatles’ ‘Anthology’ documentary, it’s an effective device to try and balance the film as a whole. It works.

Instead of just focussing on Morrison, ‘When You’re Strange’ goes to some (but not enough) lengths to get into the minds of Ray Manzarek (keyboards), Robby Krieger (guitar) and John Densmore (drums). One excellent scene dissects their playing style and how they got around the problem of not having a bassist or additional guitarist to fill out their sound (for example highlighting ho Manzarek would play the bass melodies with his left hand on a Fender PianoBass while Krieger developed a style of guitar playing that was neither rhythm nor lead).

Watching this documentary gives a greater insight into their signature sound and its key components – it gives you more respect for the musicianship.  But the focus leans on Morrison’s poetic lyrics and his off and on stage actions that threaten the future of the band. Rather than just being a catalogue of incidents, DiCillo either explores the motives psychologically or projects them onto a canvas of Americana under extreme change.

Never outstaying its hour-and-a-half run time, ‘When You’re Strange’ is a heady trip through a brief, yet consistently resonant, period of rock while successfully breaking on through the usual dry barriers of documentary film conventions. Essential for Doors fans, but in no way restricted to them alone, this is a fascinating examination of fractured genius.