Beatles Get Back documentary

I was really looking forward to watching as a die hard Beatle fan.

I must say that it got interesting when one of the hit songs were developed and played but a bit of a drag in many other parts were they were unfocused or playing seemingly unrecorded or old songs.

Surely, the first several days tracked the evolution of the process but there was a lot that was wasted or otherwise uninteresting and a bit boring.

I felt kind of sad that John seemed to be uninvolved much of the time.

For sure, it would be great to see the Lenon-McCartney writing process!

At least Part One was kind of a disappointment. My expectations were high.

Especially with the expectation of "great film making".

A great narrative film maker is not necessarily a great documentarian.

Wonder what Ken Burns could do with this material?

I remember reading a quote from John Lennon saying something like he thought that Phil Spector had done a great job on Let It Be considering the load of crap that we gave him to work with.

It's simply amazing what Jackson has done with the picture quality.

Looking at Let It Be and then at Get Back and it's hard to understand the difference in image.

One looks dark and grimy and the other looks bright and clear, uncannily clear, (some might say digitally artificial).

Some of the differences are due to the original being shot on 16mm as a documentary and then, shock horror, pan and scanned onto a 35mm film for cinema release to satisfy their contract with United Artists.

I've already signed the online petition for Disney to allow Jackson to release an extended version with 5 /6 extra hours.

Why not?

Nothing else gives a better insight into how the Beatles worked and much of the Abbey Road is here in the making.

https://ultimateclassicrock.com/peter-jackson-get-back-extended-edition/

This is one of the most rewarding, amazing films I’ve ever seen.

Comparing it to other films is difficult as it is unlike most films, even unlike most documentaries.  It is not a typical documentary. It’s closer to an archeological project than, say, “Grey Gardens,” “Hoop Dreams,” or, “Crumb.”  While Michael Lindsay-Hogg certainly did a great job filming in 1969, “Get Back” belongs to Peter Jackson.  With a total of 60 hours of video and 150 hours of audio to exhaustively scrutinize and edit into a beautifully-made, 8-hour, 3-part film, Peter Jackson and his colleagues ultimately created, in my opinion, something akin to a world treasure.

Jackson had me at the opening montage sequence.  He spends only 2 minutes putting the viewer in perfect historical context as to why we are watching this footage in the first place.  After only 2-3 minutes, he masterfully puts the viewer in January 2, 1969 Twickenham Studios, circa 9:00 am, as the workers sweep the studio floor and set up the gear for Day 1 of the recording sessions.

From then until the end of the film, one need not be a music fan, let alone a Beatles fan, to be completely gripped throughout the 470-minute running time.  The level of intimacy afforded the viewer to the personal relationships and real-time creative process of a ridiculously famous band under massive pressure is simply astonishing.

If one is interested in watching an unflinching depiction of this, rendered with incredible video/audio quality and masterful editing, it’s a must-see.  For Beatles fans, it’s essential viewing.

I watch lots of movies of all kinds. Again, it’s apples and oranges comparing “Get Back” to classic fiction and non-fiction. Either way, I can’t think of many films I’ve found more deeply rewarding.

@fjship I feel that the relentlessly over-flogged message in the media that preceded the film’s release (aided and abetted by Paul and Ringo themselves) and the reinforcement of such by the media following the film’s release should be discarded and ignored.  

The tired and trite message the public was pounded with ad nauseam was:

”Look! The Beatles weren’t so mired in strife and lackluster creativity! Look how happy they were!  This will ‘change the narrative’ of Beatles history, blah, blah blah…”

One should forget all that noise. The fact that they were at their lowest point is the reason the film is so gripping.  Us Beatles fans would rather watch 8 hours of sessions from their halcyon days, but that footage may not necessarily make a more compelling film.

Due to the trite messaging of the media blitzkrieg that preceded the film’s release, I was worried that Peter Jackson may have been too biased towards depicting harmonious relationships and successful, triumphant achievements, and too quick to jettison honest depictions of the inherent strife and lackluster productivity of those sessions. I was very relieved, after watching the film, that he did not do these things.