Word: jarmusch
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...Jarmusch pays a worthy tribute to Neil Young & Crazy Horse through an engrossing collage of biography, interviews and concert footage that's bound to satisfy even die-hard Neil Young fans. Through it all, he also evokes the unusual sense of family that ties the band together, as well as the not-so-obvious connection between his own art and theirs. The result is a fine, occasionally brilliant synergy of music and film. --Brandon K. Walston
...Jarmusch, for whom Young recorded the soundtrack of the underrated gem Dead Man, shows his deep-rooted love for the band through his engrossing, though repetitive, mix of interviews, concerts, and more interviews. He also uses old film footage to fine effect--for example, juxtaposing a scene of a very stoned Neil Young & Crazy Horse circa '76 (bearing an eerie resemblance to the guys from This is Spinal Tap) burning flowers in a Parisian hotel room with clips of the band today as elder statesmen of rock: men with a past that resonates in their music...
...real reason to see this film is the band in concert; it's there that Jarmusch's best film work emerges. Alternating between up close-and-personal stage shots and seemingly unrelated imagery (traffic on a tree-lined highway, fans in Ireland waiting for a concert), he never tries to outshine the band's performance but rather to complement them. Occasionally he is guilty of some boring visuals: some of the images accompanying the songs feel like rejected film from a lost R.E.M. video...
...which the band achieves a level of aural glory that most bands can only dream of, more than make up for the infrequent lapses. In both these songs, music and imagery achieve a brilliant synergy: Young's poetic lyrics and thundering guitar are superbly matched by such shots as Jarmusch's cut between the hands of some audience members and the band jamming it up under amazing lighting. You don't have to be a fan of Neil Young & Crazy Horse--or of Jarmusch, for that matter--to enjoy these sequences...
There's a short but unforgettable scene near the end of Year of the Horse, featuring Jarmusch in the only time he's seen on screen, his signature puff of white hair arching towards the ceiling, and Young, as they journey on a tour bus through the French countryside. The director discusses religion with his chief star, i.e., how "God was really pissed in the Old Testament." During their discourse, it becomes plain just how much these men share in common. This moment captures the power of the film as a whole, showing how two apparently disparate cultural figures...