DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL - A Tribute to the Non-Fiction film-making of Martin Scorsese

DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL - A Tribute to the Non-Fiction film-making of Martin Scorsese

Dylan quote I most liked: It's not about knowing yourself. It's about creating something.


The film was comprised of restored 100's of hours of concert footage into a coherent story by Martin Scorsese. The footage was from 1975-76 and was crystal sharp with beautiful close ups of Dylan performing his concert of that time "The Rolling Thunder Review".

In Scorsese's interview he said that Dylan wanted to have a concert that was like a travelling Commedia del Arte, going in to set up a stage at small towns and have a group of different entertainers.

The film included amazing interviews of people who were involved with the tour. Afterwards Scorsese told us it was all a parody of an interview documentary and that those were all made up with fantastical stories. He explained it in a video clip I have with his Italian hand waving and humor. He says didn't you see the beginning where there was a disappearing lady trick. That should have given you a clue. He made up a whole story line where Sharon Stone was picked out of the crowd by Dylan and given free access to his concert. Then years later he asked her to join the tour. It was all contrived and his little joke. Sharon is a good friend who did the interview with him. It was really convincing and I was fooled.

He also made up a fake documentary Dutch or Swedish film maker Van Dorp who could barely tolerate Dylan and gave these shocking interviews putting him down.

Scorsese said that it was Dylan who suggested to him to make the documentary full of people who weren't even there and he thought that was a great idea. Thus the 40% fictional characters and interviews. He really fooled me on the fake film maker Van Dorp. What a name though.

It wasn't asked but he offered saying why should we explain anyway who Dylan is...read his songs and you'll learn everything there is to know about him.

What wasn't scripted was documentary footage of Dylan and his friendship with Alan Ginsberg. It was amazing to see those two geniuses (sp?) interact. There is one scene where they are at Jack Keroac's grave reading his poem Mexico City Blues. A lot of scenes also at Ginsberg's apartment which was a gathering of a lot of artists at the time.

Another two stand out scenes for me was his relationships with Joan Baez and Joni Mitchel. Joan Baez and Dylan had scenes of beautifully singing together and also heavy flirting. He asks her, "Why didn't you ever tell me you were getting married?" They're coy and shy flirts back saying "Why didn't you ever tell me you were got married?" He answered because he found the love of his life and then some comments about it was too bad it never happened for them.

Joni Mitchel was a charismatic woman and they showed the most beautiful clip of her and Dylan jamming and her singing on the tour bus. I can't remember the song but her voice was amazing.
She brought up how she was being criticized on the tour for not playing her hits but she refused to do it, she would only play her new music.

The film closed with the group playing 'Knocking on Heaven's Door' which was amazing. They ignored some of his bigger hits like 'Mr. Tambourine Man' or maybe other songs weren't written in 1975 yet.  Ron is older than I am and he knew the Dylan music very well. We texted after the film and he said he loved very scene with Dylan singing. He cried in one scene where Dylan does a special concert for Native Americans to honor the Indian Rolling Thunder who he said the tour was named after.

He didn't want the singing to stop and wondered how the original filmmakers got such close up footage of him singing. It was a few feet from his face in close ups a lot of time but I know that Scorsese heavily enhanced and edited the footage.

We also chatted about the scene where he plays in a jail which was heavily black incarcerated men and he championed the release of a boxer Hurricane and played them a song he wrote about incarceration and wanting to free Hurricane. He had an interview with Hurricane but I think it was fake.

Ron also said he was surprised by how much Dylan spoke in the film but he said he hung on every word. Although looking back now I don't know how much of the truth he was telling in the new interviews of him or how much he was going along with the fiction parts.

Someone had asked me why he wore face paint and masks on the tour. He said if someone is wearing a mask you know they are telling the truth. People who don't wear masks aren't truthful. He said there weren't enough masks on the tour. Scorsese said what do you do with an answer like that? He wanted more masks!

I just found a link to the whole interview by SF Film Society - wow!
Click here to see the Martin Scorsese interview I saw


Here's my video of him explaining the documentary is a farce. It's really funny. This is a temporary URL I think off Facebook so I don't know how long it will be up.
Click here for interview bit I recorded of Scorsese

Supposedly Dylan singing Knockin' on Heaven's Door - although it really doesn't sound like him. Good pictures of him though.
Possibly Dylan singing Knockin on Heaven's door - doubtful

Footage of Dylan at Live Aid singing with Ron Wood and Keith Richards
Click here for video of Dylan at Live Aid
This footage wasn't from the film but shows they're great voice melding and chemistry.
Click here for Joan Baez and Bob Dylan singing Blowing in the Wind

This is a clip I found of Allen Ginsberg reading a bit of Kerouac's 'Mexico City Blues'
Click here for Ginsberg reading Kerouac.

Guests Expected
Director Martin Scorsese is expected to attend.

Description
While he is beloved for his epic fiction features, Martin Scorsese’s non-fiction films are among his best work. Whether depicting tales of American life, illuminating the history of cinema, or capturing the exuberant spirit of contemporary music, his documentaries are insightful and often playful, revealing his curiosity and passion. We are thrilled to be welcoming this master filmmaker for an onstage conversation about his documentary work following a screening of his latest imaginative hybrid.

Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorsese
(Martin Scorsese, USA 2019, 142 min)
In the summer of 1975, Bob Dylan embarked on a tour across a divided America with a group of entertainers including Joan Baez, Sam Shepard, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott, and Allen Ginsberg. Using a wealth of gorgeously restored onstage and behind-the-scenes footage from the time and contemporary interviews with subjects both real and fictional, including the first on-camera interview with Bob Dylan in over a decade, Scorsese concocts a mischievous mix of fact and fantasy that explores the boundaries of both artistic self-invention and documentary film.

“Dylan obsessives will obviously be in heaven — gasping at the sparks that fly when old flame Joan Baez touches the folk legend’s shoulder, awing at what happens during an impromptu party at Gordon Lightfoot’s house, and observing a holy silence throughout the sustained long take in which Dylan and witchy violinist Scarlet Rivera crush ‘A Simple Twist of Fate’ — but the film digs so deep into its strange bag of tricks that even non-fans and neophytes are liable to be caught in its spell.” – David Ehrlich, IndieWire

Director
Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese is an Academy Award-winning director and one of the most influential filmmakers working today. Scorsese has directed numerous acclaimed documentaries including the Peabody Award winning No Direction Home: Bob Dylan (2005) and Elia Kazan: A Letter to Elia (2010); as well as Italianamerican (1974), The Last Waltz (1978), A Personal Journey with Martin Scorsese through American Movies (1995), Il Mio Viaggio in Italia (SFFILM Festival 2002), Public Speaking (2010), and George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011), for which Scorsese received Emmy Awards for Outstanding Directing for Nonfiction Programming and Outstanding Nonfiction Special. Scorsese co-directed The 50-Year Argument in 2014 with his long time documentary editor David Tedeschi. He has directed numerous award-winning films including Mean Streets (SFFILM Festival 1973), Taxi Driver (1976), Raging Bull (1980), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), Goodfellas (1990), Gangs of New York (2002), The Aviator (2004), The Departed (2006), which won an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture, and Hugo (2011) for which he received a Golden Globe for Best Director. Scorsese is the founder and chair of the Film Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and protection of motion picture history.

Ok, now I'm just going crazy with film links. But these are two I found of Scorsese on the David Letterman show - which I used to love. One is at the beginning of his career when Raging Bull is just coming out and the other is when Wolf of Wall Street came out. The second interview especially is amazing as these two are good friends and it shows in the interview.

Old Interview - Scorsese and Letterman
click here for video

Later Interview - Scorsese and Letterman
Click here for interview

Film Details
LanguageEnglish
Year2019
Runtime142
CountryUSA
DirectorMartin Scorsese
ProducerMargaret Bodde, Jeff Rosen
EditorDamian Rodriguez, David Tedeschi
CinematographerHoward Alk, Paul Goldsmith, Ellen Kuras, David Myers
Print SourceNetflix