Title: Stoned
Genre: Biography/Drama/Music
Cast: Leo Gregory, Paddy Considine …
Director: Stephen Woolley
Release: (2005)
From the very first scene in Stephen Woolley’s 2005 biopic on the life and death of Rolling Stones founder Brian Jones, you feel literally transported back to a cramped, smoky British blues club where you are bearing witness to the birth of a legend. While the more famous members of the band are not the main focus of the film, scenes such as this opening number so capture the look, the sound, and the subtle beginnings of what will become some of the classic concert mannerisms of Mick and the boys, that you may find yourself believing you are actually watching the young Rolling Stones coming together right before your eyes.
The film, Stoned, is a fascinating tale of what was and could have been for founding member of the legendary band, Brian Jones. Jones, portrayed brilliantly by Leo Gregory, is depicted as a gifted but painfully sensitive musician, for whom fame, fortune, success and worship came too fast and too soon to handle. We watch desperately as he continues to withdraw further into his own world of sex, drugs and entitlement, and becomes further and further isolated from the band that is leaving for a tour of history without him. Jones life story achieves tragic irony when his greatest handicap, his growing paranoia, becomes justified at the hands of one of the few people he would have trusted.
If you don’t yet know the story of the death of Brian Jones and want to enjoy this movie to it’s fullest, do not try to learn about it before you see this. Going in with a blank slate will make the ending all the more surprising. If you are familiar with this sad page of rock and roll history, this movie will still transport you behind the scenes for one of the most fabled beginnings in music history and leave you wondering, what if?
Grading
Story: N/A (based on a true story)
Acting: A
Visuals: A-
Originality/Innovation: B
Enjoyability: A
DVD Extras: D (deleted scenes only)
Overall: B+
|
