The Doors - When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors

A ramshackle and rudderless hagiography

Oliver Stone’s early 90s biopic of The Doors was a frustrating mish-mash of manipulated fact and cod psychology fiction that arguably enraged more fans than it pleased. Part of the problem may have been that the director was too big a fan himself, prone to describing Jim Morrison as a “god” in interviews. A more detached and level-headed approach would have resulted in a better telling of the story.

Sadly, Tom DiCillo’s documentary falls at the same hurdle, the filmmaker so enamoured by his subject that even-handed journalism is never high on the agenda. The narration, written by the director and delivered in a cold monotone by Johnny Depp, is full of words such as “genius” and “brilliant” but with scant insight or analysis. What should have been a comprehensive study of a truly enigmatic band emerges as little more than one devotee’s blinkered celluloid scrapbook.

Live footage of The Doors at their most electrifying is worth a look, though just about all of it has been seen before and is readily available on other DVDs, while the candid behind-the-scenes sequences are of interest but add little to the overall understanding of the group’s legacy. We still await an authoritative film; in the meantime, a movie that merely keeps calling the band great without ever trying to explain why just won’t do.

2 stars 2 stars

Universal | tbc

Reviewed by Terry Staunton
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