Hellbent and Blue

A brief documentary on blues music, featuring several St. Louis blues players, including Tommy Bankhead, James Crutchfield, Oliver Sain and Big George Brock, Hellbent and Blue offers a couple minutes worth of performance footage, but the majority of its running time is devoted to less than revelatory interviews with musicians. Music is music; talking is talking, and the filmmakers do not seem to appreciate the implications of that distinction. On top of that, the decision to chat with aging St. Louis blues musicians is a questionable one (given the fact that St. Louis is no longer a mecca for blues aficionados, it's not surprising that these musicians feel their genre is in poor shape). The filmmakers might have created a more compelling film on the state of blues music if they'd visited, say, the annual King Biscuit Blues Festival, or the Chicago Blues Festival, and talked with blues musicians who have a more up-to-date perspective. Not a necessary purchase. Aud: C, P. (P. Van Vleck)