Peter Jackson's new eight-hour opus on the Beatles is revelation, but not for the faint of heart
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The reviews are in: “[S]o aimless it threatens your sanity” declares The Guardian. “A mesmerizing feast for the eyes,” reports Salon. ”Isn’t something we needed;” pronounces NBC news. “An addictive look at who the Beatles were,”&nbPeter Jackson's new eight-hour opus on the Beatles is revelation, but not for the faint of heart
The reviews are in: “[S]o aimless it threatens your sanity” declares The Guardian. “A mesmerizing feast for the eyes,” reports Salon. ”Isn’t something we needed;” pronounces NBC news. “An addictive look at who the Beatles were,” according to Variety. Depending on your perspective, Get Back, the new eight-hour opus of director Peter Jackson (released this weekend in three consecutive segments on Disney+), chronicling what ultimately became known as the “Let it Be” sessions that preceded the break-up of what is widely regarded as the most influential band of all time, may be the most fascinating portrait of The Beatles you’ve ever seen. Or it may be a dreadfully tedious experience leaving you wondering how you could possibly have better spent one half of a waking day. As a lifelong fan of The Beatles, I opt for the former interpretation, but I can relate to those left numb and flummoxed by this mammoth project, which essentially boils down to a microscopic examination of The Beatles’ creative process. Your attention to this sprawling, repetitive, and comprehensive exploration depends on how much you have invested in The Beatles themselves as personalities. When we talk about how much we disdain the unpolished and labyrinthine process of “how the sausage is made” in a piece of legislation, for example, that’s in part because the sausage-makers themselves aren’t the most mesmerizing of people. Charles Schumer, Dick Durbin, Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer—however enthralled we are with their various accomplishments—aren’t imbued with quite the charisma of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Nor have they (at least to date) left such a broad and deep cultural legacy for the human race to ponder. Consequently practically no one—at least no one I know—really craves a front-row seat to the mind-numbing complexity of creating a budget reconciliation bill before it’s passed into law; what we really care about is the finished product. But in the world of art and music, sometimes you can learn something that isn’t revealed in that final product, something that gives you a better insight into the mind of the artist that helps you put that creation into context. That’s what Jackson’s epic effort here strives for, and whether he succeeds in the end ultimately depends upon all of us, as audience and arbiters, who take on the task of watching it. Read more
