We're opening season four with one of the big hitters: Martin Scorsese's 2011 George Harrison documentary. George's life gets a proper going-over for three hours, and we talk about how the film approaches his spirituality and how it relates to familiar religious themes in Scorsese films.
This is an interesting film for the calibre of talking heads it attracts, Scorsese's milkshake very much bringing all the boys to the yard: Astrid Kirchherr, Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, Phil Spector (!), Tom Petty, Dhani Harrison and Olivia Harrison too. We talk about Dhani and Olivia's contributions in particular, and how the film uses talking heads like theirs in a different way than you'd usually expect: framing them in "lived-in" surroundings and encouraging them to discuss ideas and philosophies rather than just reel off anecdotes.
Links
You can watch the film on NOW TV in the UK, or rent/buy it on Prime and YouTube
The Johnny Marr article we refer to is actually sort of two: in a 2016 interview he called George one of his favourite guitarists and he complimented him again in Uncut's 2021 Revolver issue
You can rent Scorsese's No Direction Home: Bob Dylan on Apple TV, and buy/rent it on Prime and YouTube
Videos
Watch the trailer:
Watch a short video where Scorsese explains the process of making the film, and what inspired him about George: