Extensive fly-on-the-wall account of the Fab Four’s creative process.
At its outset, this eight-hour, tripledisc Blu-ray transfer of the much heralded, widely debated Disney Channel docuseries (capturing an ever-soslightly fractured and fractious Beatles as they attempt to conjure up an album/TV special/live performance in January’69) might seem a daunting prospect. Peter ‘Lord Of The Rings’ Jackson isn’t celebrated for his near-knuckle brevity, and eight hours? It’s an entire working day. It’s as long as The Hobbit, for pity’s sake. And many of us have kind of been here before. We’ve seen Let It Be – the original grainy movie cut together from this very footage – and while it has its moments (the bit on the roof, erm…), it’s hardly a Dick Lester romp. Even at a relatively streamlined 80 minutes it’s indulgent and overlong. So as the opening credits roll, our primary goal isn’t so much to enjoy Get Back as to survive it.
Full disclosure: I’m not has never been my favourite album, so I’m willing to be a delight, but I’m equally prepared for it to be shite. First of all, it looks great. No one is about to level accusations of graininess here, occasional subtitles along with contextual and explanatory on-screen notes (dramatis personae, song credits) are as unobtrusive as they are essential, and with moments of dialogue (illuminated by beautifully edited reaction shots) enjoying equal billing with the abundant musical content, you’re not only sucked in by the central quartet’s ever-winning (nevermore-warts-and-all) personalities, but also by their unfolding/unravelling collective narrative. It’s a familiar story, that’s been told and retold by countless Beatle chroniclers, but here it is, as it happened, unfiltered. At the conclusion of the first episode, you’ll be amazed by just how gripped you’ve become.
