Curzon Soho, London Film Festival (European Premiere 07\10\23)

‘Guitarists spend half their lives tuning and the other half playing out of tune’ Paul muses as his fingers pick at guitar strings, trying to get that perfect sound. That dry laconic wit is still very much present in the 80 year old New York singer songwriter, down at his home studio in Paris, Texas, working on his 15th solo studio album, Seven Psalms.

Alex Gibney, director of the superb music documentaries on James Brown ‘Mr Dynamite’ & ‘All Or Nothing At All’ on Sinatra, was granted access to the recording studio to observe Simon’s process which entwines with a retelling of his life from Tom & Jerry to the famous Central Park concert in 1991, the zenith of his solo career. The thirty years that have followed, new album aside, go unmentioned but with a 209 minute running time, maybe you just have to leave people wanting more. Plus if the worst you can say about a film is that it wasn’t long enough – well, it just goes to show how much Alex Gibney manages to pack in

Given access to Paul’s personal film & audio archive brings us closer to the man and his songs, a taped letter to Kathy Chitty where he chides her and plays her new songs he has written including the one to her ‘in England where my love lies’, his solo demo of ‘Sounds Of Silence’ recorded in a bathroom to get the echo, outtakes from the Songs For America TV special 1989, playing a half written ‘Still Crazy…’ to Saturday Night Live producer Lorne Michaels as well as rehearsing ‘Bye Bye Love’ with George Harrison for the show.

Some of this has circulated in nth generation copies but there are all here in pristine quality. There are cute moments like his future wife, Edie Brickell, performing their big hit on SNL, spotting Paul standing by one of the cameras and completely falling to pieces.
Another is during the infamous Zimbabwe concert where Ray Piri has to tell Paul that they have to play ‘You can Call Me Al’ again straight away because the crowd won’t stop applauding until they do. I was pleased to see a sizeable portion given to showing what a great comic foil and performer Paul is, not afraid to be self depreciating with Carrie Fisher once saying he was never funnier than making fun of his own seriousness.

Paul, then and now, comments on his story as do others but mostly from archival interviews. Gibney mentioned in the post film Q&A that he approached Art Garfunkel for an contemporary interview but Garfunkel wanted too much influence over the finished film for that to take place. However Art’s voice is heard to give his point of view, particularly on their split pointing out that it takes two to be an asshole in such situations.
It is gratifying that producers Tom Wilson and in particular, Roy Halee are given their due for being as vital part of the creative team as the harmonising duo.

Back in 2021, Paul experiences sudden loss of hearing in one ear, which means a slightly wary man in front fo the camera in the studio even more vulnerable. The cause isn’t made clear (I suspect it’s COVID related) but the mental effect is clearly a shock, Simon admitting deep depression but also demonstrating an iron core in his willingness to adapt and carry on. We see him using a massager to ease aching hands after playing so long in the studio and a device that may help with his hearing, not afraid to show the effects of aging.

The film (and he) does not shy away from his failures in the early 80s, where he went from number one album with ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ to a flop album and film ‘One Trick Pony’ (perhaps those 5 years in between where the music landscape altered radically didn’t help much either), the Simon & Garfunkel reunion concert in New York’s Central Park that helped him regain his confidence and the fractious world tour that followed scuppering 1983’s ‘Hearts & Bones’ despite it being his best work in years. Naturally despondent about eing written off as a contemporary artist he looked to reframe his sound and was hooked on a South African tape a pal had given him….

The Graceland era has perhaps been covered in much more detail elsewhere and Gibney’s film does enough without really going too far into the political row with Simon suggesting that it helped the rest of the world identify with South Africans as people and aised the struggle against Apartheid. The story ends back in New York, triumphant in Central Park with 30 years between then and ‘Seven Psalms’

Paul admitted to Alex Gibney that he wished that cameras had been present during the recording of other album so despite his feeling that he has to perform in some way while he is working it is surprisingly intimate. We are eyeball to eyeball while he sings the lyric walking round the control room in an almost non performance style as if turning the song over in his mind to look at every facet and angle. A choir taping is interrupted by a call from his doctor which he takes and then appears to do a soft shoe shuffle for the camera to show that he’s ok.

His friend/ musician Wayton Marsalis encourages him to not worry about any off key notes or moments in his singing that the hearing loss causes, to embrace the change, the humanity it adds but Simon wryly says he ignores that becuse his ear is automatically drawn to fix it. To see him working with Voces8 choir is riveting stuff as he searches for the exact sound, what feeds the emotions. The sweetness of Edie and he, holding hands as they record the albums final lyric ‘Wait’ in their rustic studio by the creek fills the heart.

I suspect a streaming platform will pick this up and cut it in 3 parts S&G / 70’s / Graceland but it was wonderful to just wallow in this for 3 1\2 hours with a superb sound system. For me Paul is up there with Dylan, Joni, Lennon & McCartney on the Mount Rushmore of singer songwriters. This film skilfully tells a huge chunk of why that is so and also why he is still developing his sound to confound expectations