Watch Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man For Free

Powerful

Highly Overrated But Still Good

This story has more twists and turns than a second-rate soap opera.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Leonard is always engaging, and one stays with this messy and overlong piece of amateurism. But it generates rage by the frequency with which performers appear without being identified. Others have commented upon the frequent and irritating inclusion of the luminous graphic frame that anticipates the arrival of Bono and the lads, and they are dead right: it is just one of the many deeply irritating aspects of this potentially delightful piece. EG:Many of the performances just go on and on and on and on -- including, in one case, through the introduction of every member of the band. And a very long series of introductions it is. This is a very thick, incompetent director, who needed to be taken in hand at the editing bench and reminded that the primary responsibility is to the audience. One would have thought that Mel Gibson would have had something to say about tidying it up. Alas.Patrick Watson Toronto

I've been a fan since his first album. This film is a disservice to him. The performances, except for one by Rufus Wainwright and Teddy Thompson are simply terrible. Those by Martha Wainwright, Nick Cave, Antony, and Jarvis Cocker were particularly annoying. Even the one by the McGarrigle sisters was ruined by the so called harmony of Martha Wainwright.I've never seen my wife get up and walk out of the room on a film before and I found myself fast forwarding through the performances to get to the few interview segments, which were also difficult to watch due to the poor camera work. There are many who have been able to interpret Mr. Cohen's songs, Jennifer Warnes, KD Lang, Billy Joel, Aaron Neville, and Willie Nelson come to mind, but those people selected for this performance were just awful.Hopefully there will be another attempt at capturing Leonard Cohen on film that will illustrate his insight, talent, and intelligence.So sad

I once succeeded with an attractive older woman because we shared a poetry lovers' delight in Leonard Cohen's Suzanne. A singer/composer who doesn't need U2 for background deserves a tribute by with singers who do. Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is an entertaining tribute documentary that took place in January 2006 at the Sydney Opera House. Album genius producer Hal Willner has arranged 13 performances in the "Came So Far for Beauty" concert. Although Nick Cave and the Wainrights among others could hold their own in concert, when they successfully cover Cohen's songs in Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man, there's a slight disappointment that the basso gravel voice himself is not singing. After all, he composed the poetry and melodies, in a distinctively soulful, weary signature style that says, "I did this. Let me tell you about it." So, you can anticipate both my praise and criticism: Cohen's songs transfer remarkably well to other singers, especially Cave (Even with a Vegas attitude his Suzanne is effective) and Rufus Wainright (His oft-performed rendition of Hallelujah reveals a song that can endure even Rufus's emendations). The singers carry an experience and innocence respectively, as Cohen does. Cohen's conversations with director Lian Lunson are the most interesting parts of the documentary: his being a poet in Montreal, a hipster in New York, and a monk in a Mt. Baldy Zen monastery. All the time, however, he is cool enough to avoid revealing too much about himself, but then, that's the mystery of his songs as well. He just makes you long to know why he left his art and came back to it. He doesn't tell.When Cohen finally sings Tower of Song, I knew why he was being feted, albeit too unctuously by Bono, and why he sings his compositions better than anyone else. Because he sometimes takes up to a year on one, the care and feeling show in his weathered voice and heavily-lidded eyes. His smirk is not smug either: It mirrors a translucent soul that loves humanity in all its weaknesses, as he loves himself in all his. Deservedly.

First of all, this documentary focuses on a concert that was a tribute to Leonard Cohen, an artist and a poet that has been influential to countless others. This Sydney concert gathered a lot of talent that came together to celebrate his music. Lian Lunson, an Australian director, has taken the best tracks of the historical presentation that mixes well with the man it's paying homage to. Let the viewer be clear that for a better picture of who this man is and what he has done in his life, it will not be found in this movie. For that, anyone interested in Cohen's life must go somewhere else because of the limitations this medium had.The life of Leonard Cohen is examined briefly as an on camera interview with him at his Los Angeles home. Several biographical bits of information are revealed during that conversation, but of course, it only covers the highlights of his life in sketchy details. One gets to know, for instance, about his early life in Montreal. The death of the father when Cohen was nine. His New York stay, at the legendary Chelsea Hotel, home of the cool people that influenced a whole generation. Then one learns about Mr. Cohen's introduction to Zen Buddism and his becoming a monk.A curious note arises from the lips of Leonard Cohen's lips about being a notorious ladies' man, something he was always notorious for, and yet, how far from the truth it was. There is also a moment in which the poet reads for our benefit the introduction he prepared for one of his books being translated into Chinese, a culture that always fascinated him.The concert itself is an excellent way to hear Leonard Cohen's songs as others interpret them. Rufus Wainwright sings three numbers to great effect. Antony makes a poignant appearance belting "If It Be Your Will", all tics and mannerisms, yet making the song seem new. Nick Cave has also two good moments interpreting "I'm Your Man", and "Suzanne", two of the songs closely associated with Mr. Cohen. Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen who back up most of the songs, are perfect in "Anthem". Martha Wainwright's take on "The Traitor" has a different edge when she sings it, yet it's one of the highlights of the evening.The best is left for last. Bono, and Edge, who have been praising Mr. Cohen throughout the film come together to back him as he sings his "Tower of Song" in his own inimitable style. It shows a lot of generosity on his part leaving his own material to be reexamined by a younger generation that clearly loves him.Lian Lunson shows she had the right idea in how to bring the concert into a movie that gives relevance to a man that had it all, Leonard Cohen.