George Harrison: Living in the Material World (2011)

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

There was loads of great footage to watch, but despite the overly long run time, this danced around so much that it was by no means definitive. Apparently he didn't make any music between Living in the Material World and The Travelling Wilbur's or after Roy Orbison died... ??? There was mention of "faults" but an unwillingness to go deeper and you never got past the "he was a spiritual dude" level. I'm not the biggest fan, so this was more of an entry point, but for anyone that was, I can see this being a little disappointing.

On the Beatles Albums most of the Songs were Written by Lennon/Mccartney (and other covers of RnR and R&B standards) but there was usually one that was Penned by a Fella named Harrison. That one Track was always Stack-able next to the others and was not just a throwaway or token Inclusion. The song was just as Cool and Rocked along with the others, and if one Listened Closely it did have an Ethereal and Otherworldly Feel that was not only from the Heart but linked to the Soul with a Mystical Presence Apart from the other three minute Teenybopper Soaps.That was George Harrison. Even before, even He, knew that there was more..."it's just things", he would say, "it really doesn't matter". But it turned out It Did Matter as He would Discover. While the Juggernaut of John and Paul was Prolifically Pounding out a stream of Wonderful, Timeless little Ditties of Poetry with a Back-Beat, George was Gently Pushed to the Peripheral and as it turned out, that is where His Clever Cultivation Occurred. The Results were Not as Numerous but just as Substantial as His Mates.This was His Essence, the Spiritual seeking and the Oneness of it all that became His Belief and it proved to be rather Reflective in Retrospect.Part of the Sum of the Parts as to what the Beatles without the Fab Four could Never have been. It's like Paul says in the Film..."A square with four corners, remove one and it is gone".So the Documentary Lays Bare that in this corner we have George, and it (He) is clearly Exposed as the most Self-Conscious, Introspective of the Group and Shows the Band to be simply...John the Mind...Paul the Heart...George the Soul...and Ringo Wrapped it together on the Skins.The Film is Not all Encompassing, what could ever be?. The Film is Not always Entertaining, no One Life ever is. The Film is a Long Exposure of a Moving Snapshot. A Look in on the Life and Times of a Man, a Dreamer, an Artist, and a Sensitive Soul that tried to figure it all out by being..."IN the Material World...but not OF the Material World".The Movie is a Stark and Welcome Compendium and a Compilation of Images, Thoughts, and Feelings about an Interesting Fella that can still "Light Up the Room".

George Harrison was a creative force in the Beatles; not as much a creative force as Lennon and McCartney, but still someone who contributed to their amazing, transformative body of music in a significant way. He was also unusually interested (for a westerner) in eastern mysticism; but was not without his attachments to aspects of the material world. The man's life is told, through old and new interviews with himself and his friends, and archive footage (of which there is plenty), in Martin Scorcese's film. It's fair to say the film is somewhat hagiographic, telling an overwhelming sympathetic story: a reference to a period of heavy drug abuse is made, but not directly commented upon, and no reference is made to the Natural Law Party (whose bizarre platform in the 1992 British general election was actively supported by Harrison). And one might question how much of the story of his later life is really that interesting, or whether his apparent contradictions were the simple consequence of having too much money and time. But one thing does come over: for all his failings, he seems to have been a genuinely loved human being, in a decidedly unusual way; to combine that with the musical legacy of the Beatles is not such a bad epitaph for a life.

Martin Scorsese's 4 hour documentary on George Harrison bears very few of Scorsese's fingerprints. It is assembled from familiar Beatles footage, Anthology interview outtakes, previously unseen personal footage and photographs, and fresh interviews with certain individuals (Olivia Harrison, Clapton, and Ringo all have meaty interviews).For the non-Beatle enthusiast, this will be overkill with a vengeance. For the casual Beatle enthusiast, it is probably just about perfect. For the die-hard, it is an experience which is rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. It is rewarding for two reasons: one, there are some lovely moments (chief among which are two anecdotes, one from Olivia and one from Ringo, which illuminate George's mordant sense of humour in the face of adversity) and, two there are some terrific musical moments which had previously been kept under wraps - indeed, I think I detected some unheard elements in Beatles mixes.This is also one of the frustrations because, as is so often the case with this sort of project (Anthology was just the same) none of the musical items is seen through to completion - everything is cut short. Also, there are some major omissions, of which the Cloud 9 album is the most notable.Even so, you come to the end of this feeling George's loss very keenly.