The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?

The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
by Peter Meyer

The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?
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DVD Cover Information

Actor: Danny Glover, Eric Clapton, Keb' Mo', Keith Richards (II), Robert Cray
Director: Peter Meyer
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Black & White, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 76 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2003-07-22
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Shout Factory

Movie Reviews of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?

Movie Review: Best Robert Johnson documentary yet
Summary: 5 Stars

This documentary was produced in 1997, and very little new and meaningful information on Robert Johnson has surfaced since then, except for further details over his death. So, the important facts about his life are contained here. But this is more than a documentary --- the dramatizations are fabulous. It is a very relaxing film, and beautifully showcases Johnson's original recordings. Keb Mo does a fine job in recreating Johnson's recording sessions. It is visually beautiful, and takes you to the heart of the Delta. Johnny Shines, Johnson's former traveling buddy, is wonderful, and credible. I grow weary of listening to Honeyboy Edwards because the authenticity of his claims are highly questionable. Just reading the back of Johnson's death certificate raises serious questions about Edwards' recollections. No matter. This is a very entertaining and transcending work.

Summary of The Life and Music of Robert Johnson: Can't You Hear the Wind Howl?

This ambitious mixture of dramatic reconstruction with traditional documentary affords excellent insight into legendary bluesman Robert Johnson's life, the enduring power of his music, and the myth which surrounds him. Can't You Hear The Wind Howl transcends its genre of "docudrama," providing the well-researched information we'd expect from a conventional documentary with the dramatic impact we could hope for from a Hollywood film.

Contemporary bluesman Keb' Mo' (Kevin Moore) plays Johnson, and Danny Glover narrates, but the real star is Robert Johnson's music. The film's strength is its power of suggestion; we never see the Johnson character up close, never hear him talk. As if in a dream, he flits in and out of scenes, whether courting his girlfriend or stirring a juke joint to mayhem. But you'd be hard put picking him out of a police lineup. We never see him such that we can know him, which is an accurate representation of the elusive musician, according to the interview footage with Johnson's proteges and peers--among them Johnny Shines, Robert Lockwood Jr., and Honeyboy Edwards. Keb' Mo', who has included Robert Johnson songs on each of his three CDs, says that portraying Johnson had a lasting effect. "It's an internal thing," says Mo'. "In playing him, you pull in some of the spirit. The spirit of a juke joint, the spirit of the south at that time." This film falls nicely between an homage and an explanation. --Sam Sutherland

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