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MOVIES / ON DVD / NEIL YOUNG - HEART OF GOLD
Neil Young - Heart of Gold

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Neil Young - Heart of Gold (2006)

90%
87%
77%
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90 %
Reviews Counted: 94 Fresh: 85  Rotten:9 Average Rating: 8/10
 
Consensus: Proving that it’s neither better to burn out nor fade away, Neil Young: Heart of Gold works both as a concert film and a meditation on mortality. Proving that it’s neither better to burn out nor fade away, Neil Young: Heart of Gold works both as a concert film and a meditation on mortality. more
 
Rated: PG
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Theatrical Release: Feb 10, 2006 Limited
Box Office: $1,660,898
Synopsis:
In March 2005, Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Four days before he was scheduled for a lifesaving operation, he headed to Nashville, where he wrote and recorded the country folk album PRAIRIE WIND with old friends and family members. After the successful operation and... [More]
In March 2005, Neil Young was diagnosed with a brain aneurysm. Four days before he was scheduled for a lifesaving operation, he headed to Nashville, where he wrote and recorded the country folk album PRAIRIE WIND with old friends and family members. After the successful operation and recovery period, he returned to Nashville that August to play at the famed Ryman Auditorium, once again gathering together friends and family for this special performance. He also brought along Oscar-winning director Jonathan Demme, who in addition to making such hits as THE SILENCE OF THE LAMBS and PHILADELPHIA has made such successful concert films as STOP MAKING SENSE (with the Talking Heads) and STOREFRONT HITCHCOCK (with Robyn Hitchcock), as well as videos for the Pretenders and Bruce Springsteen. NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD begins with brief interviews with many of the participants, but then it's all about the music. Supported by his wife, Pegi, country star Emmylou Harris, the Nashville String Machine, the Memphis Horns, the Fisk University Jubilee Singers, and musicians Ben Keith, Spooner Oldham, Rick Rosas, Grant Boatwright, and others, Young leads an ever-changing collection of musicians through nine of the ten songs from the remarkable PRAIRIE WIND, an album that poignantly deals with love and loss, life and death. Young even gets reflective at the show, telling moving stories from his past in between playing guitar, harmonica, piano, and banjo. He also delights the crowd with a long set of encores of past acoustic hits, going through his vast repertoire to find memorable songs that examine life and death as well, including "The Needle and the Damage Done," "Old Man," "Comes a Time," and Ian Tyson's "Four Strong Winds." NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD is an extraordinary document of one of the world's greatest songwriters staring death in the face--and letting the music save him. [Less]

Genre: Musical & Performing Arts

Starring: Neil Young

Director: Jonathan Demme
Producer: Ilona Herzberg, Bernard Shakey
Composer: Neil Young

DVD Info

Release:

Jun 13, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • Region 1
  • Keep Case - Sensormatic
  • Anamorphic Widescreen

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - English

Additional Release Material:

  • Bonus Footage - 1.Never-Before-Seen Footage From Rehearsal Studio
  • 2. Blast From The Past Neil Young Performance (1971)
  • Interview - Behind-The-Scenes Interviews with Neil Youn and Jonathan Demme

Buy It On DVD

Reviews

 
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Proves it's better to burn out, than to fade away.

Full Review | Comment
06/16/07 08:55 AM
Kam Williams
Upstage Magazine
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Pleasant, but hardly pulse-quickening stuff.

Full Review | Comment
10/07/06 05:00 AM
Andrew Pulver
Guardian [UK]
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Shows the famed songwriter's performance and work off with reverance, and a faithfullness to the live experience.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 03:16 AM
Empire Magazine
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The result is simply spellbinding.

Full Review | Comment
10/06/06 03:16 AM
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]
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...Even those who haven’t followed Young’s every recent move could well find his performance here surprisingly captivating.

Full Review | Comment
10/05/06 03:16 AM
Trevor Johnston
Time Out
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...Neil Young has experimented with film many times, but this is by far the most accessible cinematic treatment of his music; a troubadour at the top of his game.

Full Review | Comment
10/03/06 03:17 AM
Matt McNally
BBC
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Young's presence, his heartfelt delivery, and the audience's fore-knowledge of his brain aneurysm add enough weight to make the film a surprisingly emotional experience

Full Review | Comment
08/07/06 12:48 PM
Leo Goldsmith
Not Coming to a Theater Near You
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A potent brew of humanity, empathy, and dignity.

Full Review | Comment
06/17/06 09:44 AM
Jeffrey Chen
Window to the Movies
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Regardless of what you call it, Heart of Gold is a revelation and one of 2006's best movies.

Full Review | Comment
06/15/06 09:18 PM
Pete Croatto
Filmcritic.com
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Demme continues to make concert films not because he's a fan, but because the concerts are inherantly cinematic and make perfect sense.

Full Review | Comment
06/11/06 06:59 PM
Collin Souter
eFilmCritic.com
Ratings Image

...The arrival of Neil Young: Heart of Gold should be an inspiration to music buffs and cinephiles alike.

Full Review | Comment
05/20/06 04:13 AM
Corey Hall
Orlando Weekly
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The best moments in the film are when Ellen Kuras’s camera just sits there taking in the whole stage, the whole gorgeous ecosystem.

Full Review | Comment
05/12/06 03:16 AM
David Edelstein
New York Magazine
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The beauty of the movie is in how alive it all sounds: rich and rueful and satisfying.

Full Review | Comment
05/12/06 03:16 AM
Jonathan Kiefer
Sacramento News & Review
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While his lyrics aren't complicated, both the words and the delivery reflect years of pain and anguish, particularly in seeing time pass, friends come and go.

Full Review | Comment
05/04/06 07:56 AM
Rubin Safaya
Cinemalogue.com
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As pure of a musical concert film as I've ever seen.

Full Review | Comment
05/03/06 01:34 PM
Robert Roten
Laramie Movie Scope
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The usual scope and spectacle of filmed concerts is done away with for a creation of intimacy.

Full Review | Comment
04/27/06 04:31 PM
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)
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Lets the music do the talking and that's great as far as I'm concerned: I love Young's sound.

Full Review | Comment
04/08/06 05:16 PM
Dennis Schwartz
Ozus' World Movie Reviews
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It doesn't penetrate his craggy mystique, or make us hear his music in a new way. Instead, it's the same old choir song.

Full Review | Comment
04/07/06 04:16 PM
Evelyn McDonnell
Miami Herald
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It shows the whole of Young's music as a well-worn mixture of brawn and grace. But it reveals the new Young album, Prairie Wind, as a sometimes musty echo of his 1972 acoustic-rock classic, Harvest.

Full Review | Comment
04/06/06 03:54 PM
Sean Piccoli
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
Ratings Image

Vividly captures Young's greatness by simply letting him do his thing.

Full Review | Comment
04/06/06 07:36 AM
Nick Schager
Lessons of Darkness
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Related Forums

Darko, Donnie
(DOCU/Performance)-Jonathan Demme's NEIL YOUNG: HEART OF GOLD is for old fans only!!!
by: Darko, Donnie 6/16/06
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