BAD ドキュメンタリーレビュー

スパイク・リー、マイケル・ジャクソンの「Bad」の良さを思い出す

出典：サロン

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/spike_lee_remembers_the_good_of_michael_jacksons_bad/

世界で最も売れたアルバムである「スリラー」を、たとえマイケル・ジャクソンであっても、どのようにフォローする人がいるでしょうか？それが、ABC 感謝祭の夜に放映されるスパイク・リーのお祝いドキュメント「Bad25」の原動力となっている質問です。 「スリラー」の後、下手なアーティストならマイクを投げ捨てて「ゲームオーバー」を宣言するだろう。しかし、公の場での穏やかな話し方の魅力と内気な態度にもかかわらず、マイケル・ジャクソンは信じられないほどのチャラさを持っていました。彼の周囲には、雷が二度落ちる可能性があると本気で信じている人はほとんどいなかった。労働者階級のインディアナ州ゲーリーから歌って踊って抜け出した少年は、それでも決してひるむことはなかった。彼は単に別の「スリラー」を作ろうとしただけではなかった。彼はそれを上回るつもりだった。

MJ は「Bad」で創造性をさらにコントロールし、2 曲を除くすべてのシングルを書きました。彼はまた、アルバムの視覚的に魅力的なビデオ、実際には短編映画のクリエイティブ ディレクションにも大きな責任を負っていました。彼の報酬は、「バッド」が、5 回連続でナンバー 6 位のポップ シングルを獲得した史上初のアルバムとなりました。 MJのカムバック・ツアーがどのようなものだったのかを垣間見るドキュメンタリー・コンサート・リハーサル・フィルム「This Is It」では、聴衆に彼の偉大さを思い出させる年老いたマスターとしてのMJが描かれている。 「Bad25」は、MJ の才能がまだ比較的純粋で未熟だった時期に、MJ が王座を確固たるものにしたことを大いに楽しんでいます。

「マイケルには限界がなかった。マイケルは誰よりも大きな考えを持っていた」と『マン・イン・ザ・ミュージック：マイケル・ジャクソンのクリエイティブな人生と仕事』の著者であるジョー・ヴォーゲルは言う。ナンバー 16 になれないという選択肢は彼にとってありませんでした。実際、彼は「スリラー」と「バッド」の最中に元CBSレコード社長のウォルター・イェトニコフに電話して、「私の記録は第○位ではない。私の記録は第○位ではない。どうするんだ？」と不満を漏らしていた。マイケルは自分の目標を達成するために全力を尽くしました。 「とても大変な作業だ」と彼は「最悪」について語った。 「多くの人は、仕事の結果だけを見ることに慣れています。彼らは、結果を生み出すために経験する仕事の側面をまったく見ていません。」

「Bad25」では、「Bad」ビデオ（凶悪犯役で大ヒットしたウェズリー・スナイプスが出演）の制作に携わったマーティン・スコセッシとMJのコラボレーションに焦点を当てている。 「私たちはロサンゼルスでクインシーとマイケルとミーティングをしましたが、彼らはアイデアを幅広く受け入れてくれたことがわかりました。私たちがどのようなストーリーを作り上げることができるか、どのような問題に対処できるかについて、実際には誰もアイデアを持っていませんでした」とスコセッシ監督はビデオの制作中に語った。最近のインタビューでスコセッシ監督は、彼らが選んだハーレム地区で撮影が始まったとき、マイケルが彼を脇に連れて行き、「ここに人は住んでいるの？」と尋ねたと回想している。

Choreographer/singer Jeffrey Daniel, who appears throughout the doc, provides a fascinating breakdown of MJ’s mind-blowing dance moves. Daniel, a former member of Shalamar, was a key collaborator of MJ’s, largely responsible for introducing the latest street and club moves to the Moonwalking marvel’s dance repertoire.

“The thing about it is,” Daniel says, “Michael can’t go out to clubs and hang out because he’s マイケル・ジャクソン, so, through me, he was picking up what was happening in the hood and I’m taking it over to his gallery over at the Jackson house on Hayvenhurst.”

The archival footage of the choreographers and dancers who created dance routines with Michael — like Daniel and choreographer Jeff Burge, who worked on “Bad” and passed away in 1998 at the age 40 — could easily compose an outstanding documentary of its own.

We never see a present-day Quincy Jones in “Bad25” but his voice and insight are ever-present. “We wanted a tough album,” he says, “Well, a tough image anyway.” The album would be the last the two would work on together. Other musicians on the album also attest to Jones’ contribution even while highlighting MJ’s genius. Steve Stevens, Billy Idol’s highly regarded guitarist, not only shares what マイケル・ジャクソン taught him while recording “Dirty Diana” but also speaks of the initial call Jones made to him about working with MJ. We also meet Jones protégé Siedah Garrett, who co-wrote “Man in the Mirror” and sang “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” — she is quite dramatic in her recollections of working with both Jones and マイケル・ジャクソン on “Bad.” Here she reminisces about conversations and studio sessions like a skilled actress, occasionally breaking into song.

MJ-influenced artists like Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Chris Brown, Cee Lo Green and Questlove also chime in on “Bad25” to share their insights on “Bad.” They all attest to MJ’s impact beyond “Thriller”; Kanye says the fashion elements of the “Bad” video (especially its ubiquitous hoodies) are far more influential than those in “Thriller.” “I’m like almost dressed like that today,” Kanye says.

“Bad25” doesn’t specifically address how “We Are the World” impacted マイケル・ジャクソン creatively but it’s clear that “Bad” is a more socially conscious product than “Thriller.” Bullying” is the theme of the “Bad” video. Skid row is the centerpiece of the video for the largely flirtatious “The Way You Make Me Feel.” In “Leave Me Alone,” a visually stunning video that imaginatively uses animation techniques, MJ aggressively takes on the media’s relentless coverage of the quirkier elements of his life, proclaiming that he and other public figures are indeed entitled to personal privacy. Of course, “Man in the Mirror,” perhaps his most enduring single, evokes the urgent need for personal accountability and action in transforming the world in which we all live. With “Bad,” マイケル・ジャクソン infused his humanitarian values with his art and helped make caring cool. One might even argue he held open the floodgate for today’s many celebrity do-gooders.

Well-known music journalists Nelson George, a former black music editor for Billboard, and Danyel Smith, Vibe’s one-time editor in chief, speak to the “blackness” inherent in マイケル・ジャクソン’s music. Sheryl Crow, a background singer on the “Bad” world tour, is quite affecting in her present-day and archival appearances, especially when describing what distinguished him from other artists. “Whenever he stepped out and sang, whenever he made that connection with people, he changed the molecules in the room,” she marvels. “Smooth Criminal” director Colin Chilvers, along with its co-choreographer Vincent Paterson, drop many gems about the video’s influences and execution. Longtime MJ musical collaborator Greg Phillinganes, who even worked with the Jacksons,” is a music lovers’ treasure trove in regards to how certain grooves were created for “Bad.” For his part, “X-Factor” judge L.A. Reid swears that “something took place in those sessions that technically sounds better than any records ever made. To this day.”

Those familiar with the laws of attraction will recognize the King of Pop’s investment in them and the power of visualization largely presented by his longtime bodyguard and confidant Miko Brando, Marlon Brando’s son. With “Bad,” one could argue マイケル・ジャクソン literally willed its success into existence. Very few believed that he could create an album half as spectacular as “Thriller,” including those close to him like his attorney John Branca. Ultimately, “Bad” didn’t top “Thriller,” but there’s nothing shabby about selling 30 to 45 million albums to date.

Spike Lee doesn’t dig into マイケル・ジャクソン’s innumerable issues, but that’s not the intention of “Bad25.” This is a celebratory joint, one that revels in the quarter-century milestone of a classic album and a brilliant artist, the joy darkened only by the grief in knowing that MJ is no longer with us. Watching “Bad 25” is a great reminder of how thankful we should be that MJ moonwalked among us.

http://www.salon.com/2012/11/21/spike_lee_remembers_the_good_of_michael_jacksons_bad/

(21-10-2012) The movie website Rope of Silicone published a very positive review on Spike Lee’s documentary BAD25 by Brad Brevet:

Where the lackluster concert documentary This is It looked to capitalize on マイケル・ジャクソン’s death, Spike Lee’s Bad 25 explores the life and creative genius of マイケル・ジャクソン using the making of his 1987 album “Bad” as the narrative device on this, the album’s 25th anniversary. Dedicating time to all eleven songs on the record-breaking album, Lee uses the making of each song and subsequent music video to shape a narrative that moves effortlessly despite its two hour and 11 minute running time. In short, it’s excellent.

I should mention first, I’m a huge fan of マイケル・ジャクソン. The news of his death was entirely surreal to me, hitting me harder a day later than it did the day it was first reported. Our world has plenty of tragic figures and, to me, the tragedy that befell マイケル・ジャクソン is rather gut-wrenching. This doc makes it even a little harder to deal with as virtually all of the people Lee sits down to talk to are moved to tears the moment he asks where they were when they heard Michael died.

The genius of this documentary, however, isn’t the focus on Michael’s death. It’s the focus on his life and his creativity and the relationships he had with his collaborators, each and every one of them genuinely exhibiting a great care and compassion for the man that died over three years ago.

Using this narrative we see the likes of Martin Scorsese watching the short film he directed for “Bad”. We get a laugh as Lee asks him if he had any idea Michael would be doing so much crotch grabbing, Scorsese laughs, “No, and look, he’s doing it through the whole thing!” We’re witness to the development of his dance moves, the way the production stopped the first time Michael sings on the set of the video for “The Way You Make Me Feel”, the reason Tatiana Thumbtzen was chosen for that video and why they don’t kiss at the end.

I was enthralled listening to Bruce Swedien discussing his work as Michael’s audio engineer. Lee talks with Quincy Jones, Joe Pytka (director of “Dirty Diana” and The Way You Make Me Feel”), Steve Stevens on being called in to play guitar on “Dirty Diana”, Ruben Blades on working with Michael to translate “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” into Spanish, Greg Phillinganes (synthesizer) and Matt Forger’s genuine sincerity discussing his work with Michael at his Hayvenhurst home. Then, of course, there are the entertainment names such as Justin Bieber, Kanye West, Sheryl Crow (who toured with Michael doing the “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You” duet), Cee Lo Green, Chris Brown and Mariah Carey.

All of these conversations lead to the final moments when Lee asks each and every person where they were when Michael died and it’s as if the whole thing stops. The smiles they were sharing turn to tears. One of them says his response on hearing the news was, “Don’t call me and tell me that because it’s not true!” You feel it in your bones, the love that was shared between these creative artists that’s on display. It’s the first time I can remember seeing people genuinely speaking about マイケル・ジャクソン and actually believing them.

The group of today’s artists I listed above may have been influenced by Michael, but the majority of the people Lee talks to are those that worked with him and were called out of bed at four in the morning to begin recording a song once inspiration hit. All of this leads to the final song discussed, “Man in the Mirror.”

Siedah Garrett, who sang the duet with Michael on the album version of “I Just Can’t Stop Loving You”, co-wrote “Man in the Mirror” with Glen Ballard and she explains the process of coming up with the song and dropping it off for Quincy Jones. We’re introduced to the steps the song went through from there, how Michael shaped it and brought in a choir. Every emotion felt, from those interviewed while they discussed Michael’s death, comes back to the surface as Lee ends the documentary with Michael’s performance of “Man in the Mirror” at Wembley Stadium on July 16, 1988 to a crowd of 72,000 fans. It’s amazing.

I know opinions of マイケル・ジャクソン change from person to person, many of it shaped by what we’ve heard in the media, but when it comes to this documentary and my personal like of the man and what he brought to the world of music, this documentary delivers.

GRADE: A+

Source: MJFC / Rope of Silicone

Another BAD25 Documentary Review

(23-10-2012) The website Gawker also published a very positive review of the Spike Lee documentary 'Bad25' by Rich Juzwiak, calling it “the greatest Behind the Music episode of all time”:

The Rock Doc as Art: Spike Lee’s マイケル・ジャクソン Documentary, Bad 25

Every subgenre needs its classic, and so Spike Lee’s Bad 25 is what amounts to the greatest Behind the Music episode of all time. Frenetically paced, ingeniously constructed and brimming with hilarious anecdotes, the look back on the creation of 1987’s Bad (the one that had the enormous task of following Thriller), elevates the rock doc to an art form. At over two hours in length, what could have felt like a bloated obituary is unmistakably alive. Although it’s unlikely that it would have been assembled were it not for the death of its primary subject, Bad 25 proves that Jackson’s legacy has nearly made him immortal.

This movie gave me a new respect for an album I have listened to more times than I could possibly estimate and have grown to dislike over the years. I’ll always prefer the warmth, clarity and weirdness that defined the early, more analog-driven part of the '80s over the flabbier last half of the decade, but Bad’s craftsmanship, as elucidated by Lee’s film, is undeniable. Its cultural significance is most clearly underlined via the insight of ?uestlove, one of the film’s stable of talking heads that also includes Kanye West, L.A. Reid, collaborator Siedah Garrett (her Blossom hat is worth the price of admission), Mariah Carey (who, in a role she sometimes plays in her songs, is just a giddy pop music fan here), Justin Bieber and journalists Nelson George, Danyel Smith and Jason King. ?uest refers to Bad as black pop’s first stadium album. He calls the underwhelming duet with Stevie Wonder, “Just Good Friends,” Bad’s “coffee break.” He draws the line from James Brown’s catalog to the Bad track “Speed Demon” since virtually all of the instruments involved are used for percussive purposes. If you didn’t know before, now you do: The Roots’ drummer is among the greatest cultural critics of his time.

Kanye, meanwhile, has a tremendous bit about “Smooth Criminal” (“I never quite understood who Annie was. And why does it matter if she’s OK?”). There is a motif of gentle Jackson teasing that makes the veneration feel human and modern. Richard Price, who wrote the screenplay for the 18-minute, Martin Scorsese-directed “Bad” short film, snorts, “He goes to the Italian asthmatic and the Jewish asthmatic to make him a homey.” Throughout, Jackson’s engaging with and deviating from culture’s expectations of him as a black man/musician is handled with nuance and compassion. It’s not surprising that Lee could achieve that type of portrait (clearly, he gets it), but it’s so satisfying nonetheless.

Lee uses Bad’s songs to discuss different facets of Jackson’s legacy. “Smooth Criminal” handles his dancing, for example; “Leave Me Alone,” frames the section on Jackson’s public image; “Man in the Mirror” intertwines with reflections on Jackson’s death (the song experienced a surge in popularity after he died). As much as I appreciated the irreverent tone of the movie, I found the montage of tearing-up people whose lives Jackson touched to be incredibly moving. It’s only at the end of the film that this sense of sadness joins the pronounced emotions flowing within the discussion of Jackson’s work - as a device, this makes the great cultural loss of Jackson resound better than any discussion of his death has until this point.

The film features a host of archival footage. Some of it is in the form of old interviews -- Quincy Jones, weirdly, does not appear to have been interviewed for this movie and his comments (and abstract Bill Cosby sweater) are vintage. There’s amazing and hilarious footage of Jackson being goofy while imitating the California Raisins in expressive detail or lamenting the constraints of his endlessly buckled “Speed Demon” costume (“I wish I could [move]. I feel so limited. This stuff is so tight on me.”). It’s all so humanizing for a figure who kept the most vulnerable aspects of himself hidden from public view.

Bad 25 is playing in limited theatrical engagements this week and next in advance of its Thanksgiving airing on ABC. I saw it in a theater in New York’s East Village on Saturday that was filled with vocal fans (they booed Bieber every time he was on screen - I barely heard a word he said). One guy maintained a running commentary that was almost as loud as the film’s soundtrack, but he was ejected from the theater within the first quarter of the film. The woman who sat in front of me, nodding emphatically any time anyone made any point and then did spirit hands during the climax of “Man on the Mirror,” was allowed to remain throughout, but at least she was quiet.

The rest of the audience sang and clapped and made their love known, albeit in less distracting manners. “It’s a jubilation, really,” is how Jackson described the release of his album. A quarter of a century later, it still is.

Source: MJFC / Gawker

A Times BAD25 Documentary Review

(26-10-2012) The L.A. Times published a very positive review of Spike Lee’s documentary 'BAD2':

Review: マイケル・ジャクソン triumphs in 'Bad 25'

Spike Lee in-depth look at Jackson’s 1987 album, 'Bad,' moves like a great pop song, with performance clips, 'who knew?' anecdotes and A-list testimonials.

An unexpected narrative has solidified around マイケル・ジャクソン’s legacy since the pop superstar died in 2009: that as much as he was a creative genius -- an artist capable of pulling inspiration from the cosmos, as Jackson himself describes it in Spike Lee’s new documentary “Bad 25” -- his success came largely as the result of hard work.

The master is being remade as a trouper.

We saw the beginnings of this in “This Is It,” the 2009 documentary-cum-concert film assembled by Kenny Ortega from footage recorded during rehearsals for Jackson’s ill-fated run of shows at the O2 Arena in London.

And now the story advances in “Bad 25,” which takes an in-depth look at the making of Jackson’s 1987 follow-up to the world-dominating “Thriller.” (It’s part of a 25th-anniversary onslaught that also includes a deluxe reissue of the album.)

“This documentary celebrates the King of Pop, マイケル・ジャクソン, and the achievements of his album 'Bad,'” reads a title card at the end of the movie, and the word “achievements” seems instructive: Lee revels in the long hours and musicianly expertise required to produce hits such as “Smooth Criminal” and “Man in the Mirror.”

The album’s commercial triumph, in his account, simply rewarded a job well done.

“Celebrates” is another telling word. Packed with flattering performance clips and fawning testimonials from A-list admirers, Lee’s two-hour film is no less worshipful than “This Is It.”

The director nods to the extra-musical pursuits that threatened to destabilize Jackson’s career during the extended layover between “Thriller” and “Bad.” He’s especially insightful on the singer’s controversial acquisition in 1985 of the Beatles’ songbook, which cultural critic Nelson George says unsettled people -- white people, one infers -- who view those songs as “sacred.”

But those were distractions, Lee decides.

What elevates “Bad 25” over sizzle-reel utility Lee’s his distinctive personal touch. Partly, that means Lee’s ability to get celebrities in front of a camera, as he did here with Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey and Kanye West, who thanks Jackson for introducing him in “Dirty Diana” to a predatory-groupie type he’s since come to know well.

In one memorable sequence, the director dissects the “Bad” video with its director, Martin Scorsese -- a kind of “Behind 'Behind the Music'” moment that reflects the obsession with minutiae that animates all of Lee’s work.

And with Jackson, there’s never any shortage of fascinating insider anecdotes. Who knew, for example, that playwright August Wilson had been asked to write a script for the video for “The Way You Make Me Feel”? (Wilson said no.)

All those details suggest that a nearly Jacksonian level of effort went into this meticulously researched movie, which following a theatrical run in L.A. is due to air on ABC on Thanksgiving. But not unlike the singer and his producer Quincy Jones, Lee stitches them together with speed and precision.

On-screen, “Bad 25” moves in the style of a great pop song.

Source: MJFC / LA Times

マイケル・ジャクソン’s (and Spike Lee’s) BAD25 Proves Your Butt Is Still His

A A AComments (0) By Alan Scherstuhl Wednesday, Oct 17 2012

Look, if there’s any part of you that thinks you might be interested in catching BAD 25, Spike Lee’s two-hour celebration/behind-the-scenes history of マイケル・ジャクソン’s 1988 Bad LP, then seriously, get to it. This is a bliss-out. The performance footage alone is thrilling, and Lee has augmented it with archival treasures: dance rehearsals where Jackson and choreographers Jeffrey Daniel and Caszper Canidate seem lost in the joy of invention; recordings of vocal exercises revealing Jackson’s rarely plumbed lower registers; video shot by Jackson himself of Siedah Garrett singing her then-new song (co-written with Glen Ballard) “Man in the Mirror” to Jackson and Quincy Jones.

Even without such finds, Lee’s talking heads would be worth a ticket. Lee rounds up the engineers and keyboard players, the choreographers and horn arrangers, the people who actually have insight into the actual art. There are celebrities, too, Kanye and Mariah Carey in humble-fan mode, and Justin Bieber gets a laugh just by popping up to point out that his video for “Baby” rips off Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel.” (Weirder still, L.A. Reid brags that in that “Baby” video he forbade Bieber from kissing a black woman.)

Film geeks will relish scenes of Martin Scorsese and editor Thelma Schoonmaker re-watching Scorsese’s video for “Bad,” especially as Lee, off camera, hollers questions: That’s a crane down and a dolly back? Did you know he would be grabbing his crotch so much?

Among the many pressing concerns the movie clears up: Jackson’s shouts of “Sham on!” it turns out, come from Mavis Staples. Annie—the woman who has worried the smooth criminal with her potential not-OK-ness—is a CPR dummy, and Diana isn’t anyone whom you should know. The reason the title track wasn’t a duet with Prince, as Jackson had hoped, is that at their meeting, Jackson became convinced that Prince was subjecting him to some sort of spellcraft. (Prince’s excuse, not in the movie, has been simpler: He wasn’t going to sing “Your butt is mine” to マイケル・ジャクソン.) Nobody is willing to talk about how Jackson and Co. achieved the famous leaning dance moves from the “Smooth Criminal” video, but in on-set footage, you can see the wires. And everyone from Jones to Stevie Wonder agrees: “Just Good Friends” kind of sucks.

Lee doesn’t dwell much on the controversies in which Jackson was pickling. Instead, he works through the album song by song, covering the writing, recording, video making, or whatever else seems relevant. Highlights abound: a quick primer on the evolution of Jackson’s dancing; Garrett and Ballard re-creating the moment they came up with “Man in the Mirror”; occasional pages of notes Jackson wrote exhorting himself to work harder, to be better.

For all its high-end pop professionalism and by-the-numbers industry record breaking, マイケル・ジャクソン’s Bad remains a vital, personal, sometimes inscrutable album, one that bears the odd distinction of being underrated despite having launched five elevenths of its tracks to the peak of the singles charts. It’s the last indisputable triumph from a performer who until then had known little else. It’s the first instance of that performer having to work harder than usual to catch up to a culture that was moving past him. And it’s the last instance I can think of when what was far and away the most popular music could lay a serious claim to being the best music, if not the most innovative, or always the most inspired, certainly among the best crafted, best sung, and best played. The strut-along lope of “The Way You Make Me Feel”? The angular synth stabs powering “Another Part of Me”? The bat-shit rubbery synth-bass runs on “Speed Demon”? And the whole of “Speed Demon” itself, the perfect counterexample to everything I just said about Bad not being too innovative or inspiring, an anxious, id-driven jitter-funk spazz-out as weird as anything Prince ever did but sold to young America in a Moonwalker segment whipped up by Will Vinton, the guy behind the California Raisins. Lee even plays a priceless video Jackson made showing Vinton the expressions he wanted on the Claymation raisins in his own commercial.

That right there is stranger than any of the then-current “Wacko Jacko” stories, the ones that almost made it news when he declared that it was still a man that he saw in his mirror. On songs like “Leave Me Alone” and “Smooth Criminal,” this perennially childlike artist dug deep into his adult fear and anxiety different from what anyone else alive could ever have felt, and through sour-candy pop craftsmanship, he and his collaborators transformed the night sweats of the world’s most famous man into near-universal art that still signifies across generations, languages, and cultures. That art is now perennially repackaged and resold, with tribute tours and reissues demanding absurdly high fan buy-ins. The hell with those. Spike Lee has given the world the first tribute that fully measures up to Jackson the artist. Come on get your sham on.