After an otherwise mediocre start to the year, the second half of 2014 looks set to be more promising for aficionados of music films. For a start, fans of Big Star who’ve been waiting for Nothing Can Hurt Me to arrive on UK screens will finally have their patience rewarded when Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori’s film about Alex Chilton and co finally gets a UK release next month.
There’s also the excellent Nick Cave ‘documentary’, 20,000 Days On Earth, plus biopics just round the corner on James Brown and Jimi Hendrix. And let’s not overlook docs on Fela Kuti, Dexys and Roland Kirk, while an enterprising pair of filmmakers set out to document American roots music in homage to Alan Lomax.
I’ve assembled a list of 10 below; my choice being cunningly predicated on the existence of a trailer for each film. I can’t guarantee that come December we’re going to find them all in our Films Of The Year – I’ve already got my suspicions about a couple, but I won’t say which ones – but it at least gives a taste of what to expect as the next six months unfolds…
Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me
(Opens August 1)
Thwarted expectations ahoy in this well-intentioned chronicle of the Memphis quartet’s story. Lack of substantial archive footage a drawback, however.
God Help The Girl
(Opens August 22)
Big screen debut from Belle & Sebastian’s Stuart Murdoch, who writes and directs this whimsical musical comedy about love and hairgrips in Glasgow.
Finding Fela
(opens September 5)
Comprehensive account of the Afrobeat pioneer’s colourful life and times, mixing amazing archive footage and first-hand testimonials.
20,000 Days On Earth
(Opens September 19)
Fact and fiction blurs in this purported ‘day in the life of Nick Cave’. Warren Ellis, Blixa Bargeld, Kylie and Ray Winstone join in the fun.
Get On Up
(Opens September 26)
The first of two James Brown projects, this Mick Jagger produced biopic arrives ahead of Alex (Finding Fela) Gibney’s doc about Brown’s early years.
Nowhere Is Home
(Opens October)
Part concert film, part doc, Paul Kelly’s film was shot around Dexys nine-night residency at London’s Duke Of York’s theatre in spring 2013.
Jimi: All Is By My Side
(opens October 10)
Or Hendrix: The London Years. Andre 3000 is Hendrix circa 1966/7 in John (12 Years A Slave) Ridley’s biopic.
Hustlers Convention
(release date to be confirmed)
Documentary about the 1973 album by Jalal Nuriddin of the Last Poets: a lost classic, due for reassessment.
The 78 Project
(release date to be confirmed)
On a road trip round America inspired by Alan Lomax
Taking their cue from Alan Lomax, Alex Steyermark and Lavinia Jones Wright traveled America recording record today’s musicians on 1930s technology.
The Case Of The Three Sided Dream
(release date to be confirmed)
Film about Rohsaan Rolankd Kirk, the incendiary jazz horn player, captured in super-8 home movies and TV footage.