Up close and personal with The Band’s legendary, plain-speaking drummer and singer. “A captivating look at a musician hanging onto his art for dear life… The performances included are wonderful.” — Hollywood Reporter
If he were just a bartender in Arkansas, somebody should still make a documentary about him.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2011
Ain't in It for My Health: A Film about Levon Helm 2010
Thirty years on from The Band’s farewell concert captured in The Last Waltz, drummer and singer Levon Helm continues to make music from his home in Woodstock. This moving, intimate portrait, shot over a three-year period, observes him there, telling stories among family, musician colleagues and friends, or out in the fields with neighbouring farmers. There’s little need for expert soundbite testimony: Helm is proof enough of what he is, and makes no bones about where he’s been and what he’s seen. Gaunt and thin-framed, Helm is nevertheless undiminished, anchored to and shaped by his country roots, still performing Midnight Rambler Sessions with his band, which includes daughter/singer Amy. This is one rock legend who won’t fade away. — SR
“A captivating look at a musician hanging onto his art for dear life… The performances included are wonderful and organic, and the tunes – including Dylan’s ‘When I Paint My Masterpiece’, and a fantastic rendition of Springsteen’s ‘Atlantic City’ – have that timeless Americana feel.” — Daniel Carlson, Hollywood Reporter