Weekend Sedition

Getting Their Rocks Off

Stones in Exile

By PHYLLIS POLLACK

Stones in Exile, the long awaited documentary film directed by Stephen Kijak about the making of the Rolling Stones’ tenth studio album, 1972’s Exile On Main St., will be released on June 22, 2010.

The DVD is from Eagle Vision, a subsidiary of Eagle Rock Entertainment. The film is produced by Oscar-winning filmmaker John Battsek, Victoria Pearman and executive produced by Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts.

For those already familiar with the Rolling Stones’ music and their fabled history, fans that purchased the double-disc album Exile years ago, who still hold onto their postcards that came inside their vinyl purchase, and that have reveled in ecstasy while hearing songs from its tracks played live at Stones shows, the fans that have long admired Dominique Tarle’s stunning photography and explanations capturing the essence of the band’s life at Nellcote, Jim Marshall’s photos, and those who have long owned Cocksucker Blues bootlegs of varying quality, this film may not offer an overwhelming amount of new disclosures. That withstanding, the DVD will still be an engaging companion for such fans all the same, the result of the ample amount of interviews from Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, former Stones guitarist Mick Taylor, Anita Pallenberg and others in the film, complemented by the seductive photography and video filmed at Nellcote, which overlaid with music from Exile on Main St. The film’s editing by Ben Stark is noteworthy, as is work on the film by cinematographer Grant Gee. The visual quality of the film is strikingly compelling.

Given the band’s long career and musicianship, perhaps some Stones fans will likely initially feel squeamish as they watch segments of the film that bring in Will i Am from the Black Peas, Benecio Del Toro and Caleb Followill to validate Exile On Main St.’s musical worth. Having this assembly of younger artists brought in to bless the album, who when first discussing it, sound unfamiliar with its tracks, may seem a bit ridiculous, somewhat patronizing, or at the very least, a revelation of a sad state of the cultural climate that their endorsements of Exile are even considered necessary.
http://www.counterpunch.org/pollack06142010.html