A documentary about David Crosby was probably always going to pique the interest of a certain kind of Rock & Roll fan. Attach Cameron Crowe (“Say Anything,” “Almost Famous”) as a producer to such a project and add a horde of rave reviews out of Sundance and you’d have to be a very picky music and movie fan to not be at least perk your ear up with some level of interest. We’ve just been treated to a trailer for the acclaimed picture that debuted out of Park City, Utah’s 2019 festival.
READ MORE: Summer Movie Preview: 35 Films You Shouldn’t Miss
As we wrote in our review: “it’s almost impossible to not be taken by this brutally honest and emotionally vulnerable film about a famous musical icon, who’s also just a man who’s beginning to contemplate his last act in life. It’s moving stuff and regardless of whether you’re a fan or not, chances are this winning doc will hit you hard.” Whether you’re completely unversed in the music of The Byrds or Crosby, Stills and Nash (and sometimes Young) or a lifelong fan of both, ‘Remember My Name’ is not a doc you should skip out on.
READ MORE: Best & Worst Of The 2019 Sundance Film Festival
Here’s the official synopsis:
You thought you knew him. Meet David Crosby now in this portrait of a man with everything but an easy retirement on his mind. With unflinching honesty, self-examination, regret, fear, exuberance and an unshakable belief in family and the transformative nature of music, Crosby shares his often challenging journey.
Directed by A.J. Eaton with some assistance from Crowe, the film sounds similarly introspective to Andrew Dominick’s recent and powerful, “One More Time With Feeling” (2016), a black and white tone poem about Nick Cave grappling with his grief following the death of his 15-year-old son, and his next album’s subsequently tender recording sessions. ‘Feeling’ is a heart-wrenching work (and simply an incredible piece of filmmaking) that expressively strips down loss to its naked absence. Great music is all about baring the soul of the artist, which typically makes melancholic films about musicians far more effective than biographically informative or observational concert flicks.
Crowe and Crosby each bring a lifelong passion, level of knowledge and a priceless amount of experience to a poignant project such as ‘Remember My Name’, and the results seem expectedly assertive. Whether you’re a fan of music from the classic rock period or not, the pain of self-reflection is a timeless human story that reveals our inner demons better than just about anything. There’s a reason why folk music still survives. Eaton’s new film appears to be a touching documentary confession from a musical legend.
“David Crosby: Remember My Name” will be released on July 19 by Sony Pictures Classics.