Under the Radar: Satisfaction, indeed

Shine a Light
Review by Nathan Weinbender

The greatest rock band in the world has teamed up with the best American director working today, and the result is one of the most electric music documentaries ever.

Martin Scorsese’s “Shine a Light” exists as a testament to the longevity of great music, and we see the Rolling Stones, who have been performing for more than 45 years now, as headstrong, energetic and relevant as they have ever been. It’s amazing that the Stones, all of whom are in their sixties, can still put on a knock-down, drag-out show, and they make it all look so effortless.

“Shine a Light” documents the Stones as they perform for a small crowd at New York’s Beacon Theater, and Scorsese has hired a team of respected cinematographers to capture the event. The footage is terrific and exciting, placing us right on stage with the Stones as they swagger their way through some of their finest songs, all with their trademark snarling, ramshackle musical style.

The film is, if anything, the polar opposite of the chilling “Gimme Shelter,” the brilliant 1970 documentary that chronicled the Rolling Stones’ infamous Altamont Speedway concert, and of Scorsese’s elegiac 1978 concert film “The Last Waltz.” This is a joyous, lively, endlessly entertaining movie, and it showcases the spirit and timelessness of the Stones like no other film has before. Unlike so many other aging rock stars, they have yet to become preening, humorless parodies of themselves.

No, those old bastards still know how to rock.

Grade: A-

“Shine a Light” is now available on DVD. Also be on the look-out for a charming, unassuming Israeli comedy called “The Band’s Visit,” about a traveling orchestra stranded in the wrong town for a night. It’s one of the best films I’ve had the pleasure of seeing so far this year—wonderful, warm, funny, good-natured and completely irresistible.