Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is a 2005 film by Lian Lunson about the life and career of Leonard Cohen. It is based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled "Came So Far for Beauty", which was presented by Sydney Festival under the artistic direction of Brett Sheehy, and produced by Hal Willner. Performers at this show included Nick Cave, Jarvis Cocker, The Handsome Family, Beth Orton, Rufus Wainwright, Martha Wainwright, Teddy Thompson, Linda Thompson, Antony, Kate & Anna McGarrigle, with Cohen's former back-up singers Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen as special guests. The end of the film includes a performance by Leonard Cohen and U2, which was not recorded live, but filmed specifically for the film at the Slipper Room in New York in May 2005.

Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
Theatrical poster
Directed byLian Lunson
Produced byLian Lunson
Bruce Davey
Mel Gibson
Written byLian Lunson
Based on"Came So Far for Beauty"
by Hal Willner
Starring
Music byLeonard Cohen
CinematographyGeoffrey Hall
John Pirozzi
Edited byMike Cahill
Production
company
Sundance Channel
Horse Pictures
Distributed byLionsgate
Release date
  • September 11, 2005 (2005-09-11) (Toronto International Film Festival)
  • June 21, 2006 (2006-06-21) (United States)
Running time
103 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$1,398,424[1]

The film premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September 2005, and was released the same month in Canada by Lions Gate films along with the Sundance Channel. It was subsequently released in various other countries during 2006 and 2007. The film is distributed by Lions Gate Entertainment. A soundtrack CD is also available from Verve.

The DVD of the film contains extra performances.

Soundtrack

The film's soundtrack was released by Verve Forecast in July 2006. It included performances mostly recorded at an earlier incarnation of the show in Brighton, May 2004.

  1. Martha Wainwright, "Tower of Song"
  2. Teddy Thompson, "Tonight Will Be Fine"
  3. Nick Cave, "I'm Your Man"
  4. Kate & Anna McGarrigle with Martha Wainwright, "Winter Lady"
  5. Beth Orton, "Sisters of Mercy"
  6. Rufus Wainwright, "Chelsea Hotel No. 2"
  7. Anohni, "If It Be Your Will"
  8. Jarvis Cocker, "I Can't Forget"
  9. The Handsome Family, "Famous Blue Raincoat"
  10. Perla Batalla, "Bird on the Wire"
  11. Rufus Wainwright, "Everybody Knows"
  12. Martha Wainwright, "The Traitor"
  13. Nick Cave, Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen, "Suzanne"
  14. Teddy Thompson, "The Future"
  15. Perla Batalla and Julie Christensen, "Anthem"
  16. Leonard Cohen and U2, "Tower of Song"
  17. Laurie Anderson, "The Guests" (iTunes Store bonus track)

Reception

The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reported a 69% approval rating with an average rating of 6.59/10 based on 75 reviews. The website's consensus reads, "A moving, if somewhat uneven, look at the legendary singer-songwriter, I'm Your Man treats Cohen's body of work with the reverence it deserves."[2] Metacritic assigned a score of 68 out of 100, based on 27 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[3]

Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B+, and said, "I'm not generally a big fan of tribute concerts, but this is a glorious exception."[4] Stephen Holden of The New York Times called it, "...wonderful..."[5] Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave it 3/4 stars, called it, "...muddled but marvelous...,” and said, "It’s enough to send fans and converts alike to the Cohen library for more of the master himself."[6] David Jones of BBC Online gave the film 3/5 stars, and said, "[the film] brims with an infectious passion for the man's melodies and sardonic wit. Unfortunately, the performances are interspersed with interview footage that is much less captivating."[7] Jeremiah Kipp of Slant Magazine rated the film 2/5 stars and praised some of the performances, but had mixed feelings on the concert itself due to the styles of the cover songs, "lurching back and forth," between styles, and criticized the editing cuts switching between the concert footage and the documentary itself, calling it, "infuriating..." [8]

gollark: The existing rules are wæy too long.
gollark: Why is there a section on space?
gollark: OH REALLY?
gollark: Forever.
gollark: I propose that I hold all offices.

References
  1. "Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man (2006)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved July 7, 2011.
  2. "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  3. "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man". Metacritic. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  4. Gleiberman, Owen (June 21, 2006). "Leonard Cohen I'm Your Man". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  5. Holden, Stephen (June 21, 2006). "'Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man': A Documentary Song of Praise". The New York Times. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  6. Travers, Peter (June 21, 2006). "Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 2, 2019.
  7. Jones, David (November 12, 2006). "Movies: Leonard Cohen - I'm Your Man (2006)". BBC Online. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
  8. Kipp, Jeremiah (May 24, 2006). "Review: Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man". Slant Magazine. Retrieved July 8, 2019.
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