SHOT! THE PSYCHO-SPIRITUAL MANTRA OF ROCK REVIEWED
“Shot! The Psycho-Spiritual Mantra of Rock” is a cross-section between 70s rock and art photography. While the film gives a little bit of Mick Rock’s time shooting for Pink Floyd, the majority of the documentary focuses on Bowie and later. From there, Mick Rock takes us through the Bowie connection to shooting the covers for Lou Reed and Iggy Pop’s albums. The film blasts through the artists that Rock worked on and we get to hear some audio excerpts. But, is it good?
Rock photography is one of those things that doesn’t naturally lend itself to film. While I’ll collect book after book on the subject, there’s a limited window to how willing I am to listen to old masters discuss their craft. Commentaries lend themselves better to this sort of thing rather than making older artists have to remember decades upon decades of work. Director Clay seems to be aware of the issue, as he experiments with the filming ala Oliver Stone in the mid 1990s.
Still, this feels like one film too many in the recent milieu of rock documentaries. Honestly, I’ll give a bit of time before reassessing.
FILM STATS
- Not Rated
- 1 hr and 38 mins
- Magnolia
