Neil Young: Heart of Gold

Jonathan Demme's movies may be variable, but he certainly knows how to capture a live concert (witness his landmark 1984 Stop Making Sense featuring the Talking Heads). Singer-songwriter Neil Young occasionally goes off-track (see the pretentious, dreary Greendale, reviewed in VL-7/04), but is still capable of penning affecting songs and putting on a great show. In Neil Young: Heart of Gold, the two men are both in their element, as Young and his handpicked collaborators deliver a performance at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium in August 2005 spotlighting Young's latest album, Prairie Wind. The layout is as simple as can be: after some preliminary observations by members of the band and crew providing background and context, the camera moves to the stage, where Young delivers song after song—perfectly filmed—with the new ones mostly centered on his boyhood memories and experience of growing up in a rural environment, interspersed with numbers from his earlier albums. The film closes with a credits sequence, during which Young, alone on the stage, sings one last tune, quietly closes up his guitar in its case, and leaves. A triumph for both director and musician, Heart of Gold is highly recommended. Editor's Choice. [Note: DVD extras include 39 minutes of “Rehearsal Diaries” narrated by director Jonathan Demme, a “Cruising with the Players” interview featurette on Young's backup band (13 min.), “Fellow Travelers” (13 min.) on Demme's inspiration to make the film, a “Cruising with Neil” interview featurette (8 min.), “Warming Up with Neil and the Jubilee Singers” (7 min.), “Finishing Touches” on the mixes (6 min.), the bonus song “He Was the King” (6 min.), a “These Old Guitars” featurette on buying secondhand instruments (3 min.), and Young's 1971 “Blast from the Past” Johnny Cash Show performance (3 min.). Bottom line: a fine extras package for a superior concert film.] (F. Swietek)