Movie Review: Being Mick

Details from IMDB:

 

Being Mick (2001)

TV Movie  -  60 min  -  Documentary | Biography | Music  -  22 November 2001 (USA)

Ratings: 6.4/10 from 136 users

Reviews: 6 user | 1 critic

Fly-on-the-wall documentary about rockstar Mick Jagger, and his friends and family, during the recording of his 2001 album ‘Goddess in the Doorway’.

Director:

Kevin Macdonald

Stars:

Mick Jagger, Bono, Bob Geldof | See full cast and crew »

Initial Thoughts:

I’m a fan of the Rolling Stones (saw them in 2013, they were excellent BTW) and my wife heard Lenny Kravitz was in this documentary (she likes the Stones too), so we had a quiet Saturday night and watched it (as you know I also enjoy documentaries).

Main Points:

This was filmed back in 2001 as Mick was working on a album (and had some producer role in the movie "Enigma", he also had a small cameo in it). It shows Mick having a very busy, productive and certainly exciting life. I like how the film shows him as a family man (he has a slew of children) and has other interests besides the Stones and music. He has fun dismissing crazy tabloid headlines and takes time to speak with his fans both child and adult. I’ll admit that I don’t know a lot about what Keith, Ronnie and Charlie do in their lives but Mick seemed like a cool guy who isn’t completely obsessed with fame or money. It also does a good job showing the tremendous respect he has in the music industry as he gets many well known people to collaborate with him on his album. Prince Charles also makes an appearance for the premiere of his movie (maybe this is because he is a Sir? I don’t know much about British politics).

Final Thoughts:

The film has it’s flaws, it seems to shot almost entirely by Mick and while he’s talented at many things, he’s not cameraman. The shaky-cam really has no place in a documentary (of this subject at least). Since it was made for TV I also thought it seemed chopped up and does not give hardly any background or social commentary like many documentaries do. Overall though I give this a 7/10 and a recommendation (a little harsh language though, so not for small children). I like Mick and while I’m not sure I’d want his lifestyle, he certainly has a great attitude towards life. So after seeing Rise of the Planet of the Apes earlier today, I’m off to see the sequel tomorrow, Have a good one all!