'Shine a Light'

Rating:

BY GLENN GAMBOA | glenn.gamboa@newsday.com

April 4, 2008

As "Shine a Light" opens, it looks as if it will be an epic battle of wills - the chaos of a Rolling Stones concert against the precision of director Martin Scorsese, the irresistible force of rock and roll against the unmovable object of filmmaking.

The early story line of Scorsese making meticulous plans and the Rolling Stones upending them promises to offer something different, a behind-the-scenes documentary about setting up a massive enterprise with the biggest legendary rock band around, even turning the choice of the opening song into a plot point.

That doesn't last very long, though. A few songs into the movie, filmed at Manhattan's Beacon Theatre at a benefit for the Clinton Foundation in 2006, Scorsese essentially gives into the music and the band's performance, abandoning any hope of managing the chaos and turning "Shine a Light" into a more conventional concert film. This isn't as broad a look as Scorsese's more serious music studies, "The Last Waltz" (1978) or "No Direction Home: Bob Dylan" (2005). It's far more focused.

What sets it apart from the average straight-to-DVD, fans-only filmed concert, however, are all of Scorsese's behind-the-scenes preparations. He constructed a stage set that gave him incredible camera coverage, then handed out cameras to a supergroup of Oscar-winning cinematographers, from director of photography Robert Richardson ("The Aviator") to John Toll ("Braveheart") and Andrew Lesnie ("The Lord of the Rings"). He even recruited Albert Maysles, who helmed the Rolling Stones' Altamont concert documentary, "Gimme Shelter."

They, along with editor David Tedeschi, give "Shine a Light" a look of its own, putting distinctive styles next to each other - sometimes making the controlled freakouts also known as Mick Jagger's dancing seem even more spastic with additional bobbing and weaving, sometimes lingering on a Jagger or Keith Richards' craggy close-up longer than usual to catch a glimpse into their thought processes.

Nearly everyone has seen the Rolling Stones perform, but there are moments in "Shine a Light" that are truly unique, made even more dramatic on the massive IMAX screen. By being in the middle of the action, we see how Jagger's exaggerated movements are designed for bigger stages and larger venues, so that even those in the nosebleed seats know they've seen him swagger across the stage. We also get to see the interplay between Richards and Ron Wood as they play their guitars and how Jagger signals to Charlie Watts on the drums during the songs.

And, of course, the Stones' performance is as potent as usual, with some nice surprises like making "Start Me Up" more raucous and teaming with Buddy Guy for a bluesy "Champagne and Reefer."

"Shine a Light," like so much of the Stones' music it captures, may not be epic, but it certainly shows us a good time.

(2 Â½ STARS) SHINE A LIGHT (PG-13). The Rolling Stones concert film gets big-budget, big-think treatment, as Oscar-winning director Martin Scorsese puts his artistic focus on Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and their music. 2:02 (brief vulgarities, drug references, smoking). At area theaters.