Film Reviews

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

• Rating:
• Director: Lian Lunson
• Starring: Leonard Cohen
• Details: US / 98mins (G).

"The rumours of my reputation with women have kept me laughing through thousands of lonely nights." Leonard Cohen, the bard on a pyre, is a genius - of that there is no doubt - but looking at this documentary, a newcomer to his music will wonder what all the fuss is about; and no matter how many times Bono praises the great Canadian (give Bono a packet of cheese and onion crisps and he'll wax lyrical for hours), I'm Your Man never reaches the heady heights it strives for. In 2005, director Lunson travelled to Sydney to film the 'Came So Far For Beauty' concert - a gathering of artists singing their favourite Cohen songs - and managed to wangle interviews with them. Even the notoriously reclusive Cohen granted Johnson an audience. However, it's not as good as it sounds. The problems with I'm Your Man lie, amazingly, in the music: the songs chosen by such musical luminaries as Nick Cave, Rufus Wainwright, Beth Orton, Antony Hegarty, Linda Thompson, The Handsome Family and Jarvis Cocker aren't, with the exception of one or two, the strongest of Cohen's compositions, and their interpretations don't do the songs any favours. Those of you hoping to catch snippets of Leonard himself, will be aghast with how much screen time is given to The Edge and Bono (who join Cohen for the climatic, studio-based Tower Of Song). Cohen's interviews, like Bob Dylan's, are almost as interesting as his lyrics and music; but anyone hoping for an insight into his songs or private life (barring the odd anecdote and rare photograph) will be very disappointed here.

Review by Gavin Burke