I dealt with the record first; that review is here<\/a>.<\/p>\nAs much as I enjoyed the record, listening to it didn\u2019t exactly assuage my potential concerns about the film. The music was all over the place, and the inclusion of some ersatz \u201cStonesy\u201d music moved the needle on my uh-oh meter. Still, I did my best to approach the DVD with as much of an open mind as possible.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m happy to say that was a good idea. Rolling Ston<\/i>e<\/i> is not designed \u2013 and does not function \u2013 as a tool for exploitation. It\u2019s a well-crafted documentary (sans narration, as is the seeming custom these days) that replies largely on the recollections of people close to the late Rolling Stones guitarist and founding member. Not surprisingly, it also draws upon the perspective of authors who have written books on the subject.<\/p>\n
A film strictly about the controversies surrounding Jones\u2019 1969 \u201cdeath by misadventure\u201d \u2013 those British expressions are droll, aren\u2019t they? \u2013 wouldn\u2019t fill up a segment of the old Unsolved Mysteries<\/i> television program, so the filmmaker wisely places the story into a biography of Jones\u2019 life and musical career. Though his childhood was emotionally fraught, he grew up in relative comfort, as evidenced by the surprising number of (silent) home movies that exist. Those are fleshed out by the accompanying recollections of friends (okay, friends might be too strong a word, as Jones\u2019 somewhat dissolute and self-centered personality was too problematic to cultivate such relationships).<\/p>\n
A kind of pop-psychological portrait of Brian Jones emerges in the film\u2019s first half, one that might seem to foreshadow his death at (or perhaps only near) the bottom of a swimming pool. His time with the Rolling Stones is covered as well as can be expected in a film that uses not a note of actual Rolling Stones music. Happily, some superb stock of the Jean Luc Godard film Sympathy for the Devil<\/i> provides some of the most intriguing visuals in the film, but potential viewers should be advised that the accompanying audio from Godard\u2019s movie is not included.<\/p>\n
I was also pleased to see discussions \u2013 however brief \u2013 of the Pipes of Pan at Joujouka<\/i> and A Degree of Murder<\/i>, two projects with which Jones was involved (to the degree he was able at that stage). They\u2019re placed in the context of his worsening physical and psychological states, and against the backdrop of a pair of drug busts, at least one of which seems dodgy.<\/p>\n
Once the film gets around to the matter of Jones\u2019 demise, it draws from conflicting accounts, eventually leaving the viewer to decide what happened. Did he simply drown while having a late night swim after ingesting too much drugs and alcohol? That seems exceedingly unlikely. At the other end of the conjecture spectrum, was he the victim of a contract murder, a hit put out on him by Mick and Keith? Even more preposterous, and those interviewed for the film emphasize that point. (Allen Klein \u2013 no sweetheart he \u2013 didn\u2019t order the supposed hit, either.)<\/p>\n
In the end, as it so often the case in mysteries set in the bucolic English countryside, it\u2019s nearly a case of \u201cthe butler did it.\u201d In this case, however, the most likely suspect is a renovation contractor whom Jones had finally \u2013 belatedly, it would seem \u2013 dismissed. And the circumstances suggest some degree of manslaughter \u2013 a fight \u2013 rather than any kind of premeditated act.<\/p>\n
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Sometimes I cringe a bit when learning that there\u2019s been made a new film purporting to explore a notorious scandal or controversy of the past. There\u2019s a very high likelihood that the story has been played out as far as it can go absent new information, and a nearly as great chance that the film is little more than an exercise in exploitation (of both the subject and fans who would eat up any morsel of tangentially relevant information).<\/p>\n