Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

Amazing piece on a band that should have been bigger, but they were surely better.... than most.

Great bio pic. Even though I was never a huge Big Star fan (I tried).

Like most fans of Big Star, I've been waiting what seems like forever and is actually years for this documentary to finally come out. I'm happy to have some film documentation on this band and of course Big Star's awesome music is the star of the show. However, from a pure documentary-making standpoint, the first half of the film is a weak B at best, although the second half does reach A levels at times. Overall I'd give the whole thing a B+, with maybe a couple extra credit points for including footage of the 2009 Brooklyn Masonic show of the reformed Big Star (last appearance of the band, to my knowledge) and recent interviews with the late Andy Hummel, as well as Jody Stephens and John Lightman.Unfortunately, the first half of the film doesn't provide much background on the original members of Big Star, and the making of the band's first three iconic albums is primarily recounted by the people who worked at Ardent Studios/ Ardent Records. So you don't get much personal info on the band members, much explanation of their creative process, or explanation of the Memphis scene generally except that (like everywhere else in the USA) "heavy" bands were in at that point and beautiful pop bands not so much. There's no recognition of the boon that seemingly unlimited studio time was providing this band, in an era when many bands had a hard time scraping together the cash to get in a studio even to make a single. It seems pretty clear that the band didn't succeed because its material did not jive with what was in style at the time, it lacked decent distribution and the concept of "indie rock" and success on that level did not exist - it was major labels or bust. At some points I felt like I was watching a doc on Ardent and Jim Dickinson rather than on Big Star. I appreciate the filmmakers wanting to work in Jim's colorful trailer homes in Mississippi and stories about Jim and Dylan, but from the standpoint of the Big Star story, that's WAY off topic and those moments could have been given, perhaps, to better explaining how Chris Bell's tortured genius came out of some mansion full of family members out of touch with what he was doing. People like William Eggleston (the local rich party guy photographer who contributed the photos to several album covers and then became a famous photographic artist whose work hangs in major museums) are included with zero explanation of who they are and how they fit into the story.The second half, focusing on post-Big Star activities by Chilton and Bell, is a bit better. Bell was the epitome of the brilliant but mentally unstable musical genius, while Chilton was a talented guy who viewed the music world with a jaundiced eye, got bored easily and got knocked a bit sideways by substance abuse and a bad love affair; once he recovered from that, he wanted to be a punk/ art rocker, not a pop star. (It was amusing that Chilton's late 70s band, Tav Falco's Panther Burns, could upset a TV host as much as they did playing a very mildly dissonant rockabilly-ish song in the late 70s.) By the late 80s, as the film shows, everybody who ever flipped on a college radio station knew who Big Star was, and bands like the dB's and Mitch Easter-produced acts were playing an updated, slightly less lush version of the Big Star sound. After dealing with Chris Bell's making of "I Am the Cosmos", his subsequent untimely death, the Replacements' dealings with Alex Chilton, 90s reformation of Big Star with two original members and the Posies, Chilton's sudden death, and the reading of his death into the Congressional Record, the film in my opinion should have come to a quick end and not dwelled for ten more minutes on the tributes to the band at which various indie rock musicians played. I know if Michael Stipe is singing a Big Star song, you probably want to put that in your movie (even though many of us have seen way too much of Stipe in our lives already) but you could have skipped the guy from Hot Chip and about 10 others.Overall, worth watching, especially if you already know the basic story of the band and are just looking for some cool visuals. If this is your introduction to the band, have your Google and Wiki handy so you can figure out who all the Memphis people are.

Great documentary about a great band. If you're at all interested in Big Star, this is the definitive biography of that band.I saw this film at its NY premier in 2012. I think this version may be edited slightly since that screening. They seem to removed references/speculation about Chris Bell's personal life. Or maybe I'm just imagining it...

A thoroughly enjoyable and informative documentary about a band that should have been Big Stars. Their story is so familiar to those of us who took part in or supported a sibling in a band, and the all fun, excitement, disappointment, and rewards that came with it. How exciting in these days and times to see that raw energy and exuberance, that passion and abandon to the music that affected so many in that generation. Today's music lacks that personal and intimate expression that comes from a band actually performing together in the studio and feeding off of each other's ideas. I felt like I was with these guys on their journey that led to great hope, tragedy, and ended up touching so many lives. Their music speaks to the roller coaster feelings of youth and love, pain and confusion, hope and despair that reaches their fans where they live. What great music they created, and their influence touched more people than they could ever have imagined. I just hope that their are young people out there who will follow in Big Star's footsteps. and love the raw, bittersweet, highly charged emotional music that can only come from playing real instruments together without phoning in their parts. Music is successful when you can identify with the songs and feel as if they were written about you and your life. Big Star successfully did just that. This is a great documentary and brought me back to the many years I was immersed in the music scene in my town, from the days of garage bands to opening gigs for big name groups. This music just makes you feel young and alive, happy to be here.

I wanted to learn about Alex Chilton and how his songs influenced more recent artists. The film starts out right with a brief statement from Matthew Sweet, and a few comments from a member of Teenage Fanclub, both excellent examples of Chilton's work.There is fair coverage of the histories and personalities of the band members. However , the film detours into coverage of a man named "Eggleston" and a producer named "Dickinson". This was not interesting to me, and left me wanting more information about the individual songs and lyrics from Big Star.I wanted to hear some Big Star songs and see how they influenced later artists. This was not done very well.In reality, the only things that really matter it seems to Power Pop fans and artists are the first two LPs by the band. The Chris Bell experiments don't factor in to Power Pop and after "Radio City", the genius that was the band stops.In the end, its always the songs that matter.

Big Star amazed me with their records. I was in college and they had broken up several years prior. I tried out their Record City LP on my radio show and played September Gurls. I was hooked ever since. This movie chronicles the shattered lives these musicians lived. Mostly in silhouettes as much is not known about them from a private perspective except for Alex Chilton.Showcasing the wonderful and spell binding melodies and lyrics are interviews by those still living that knew these 4 talented musicians along with some old footage from some music sessions. Chris Bell was my favorite member of Big Star and his tragic story is brought forth in its sorrow and pain of knowing that this musical genius went unnoticed for many years.Sad to believe that only Jody Stephens is still on this side of of eternity. Overall a much needed retelling of a true rock and roll tragedy.

I came to Big Star by one of the usual routes - a rave-up from St. Paul of Westerberg in the mid 80's. And then the years spent scrubbing through used vinyl stacks looking for a stray copy of #1 Record or Radio City and not wanting to shed money I didn't have for the British import. Their body of work was a mystery for the longest while. The bootleg CD I finally did locate in NYC 'round 89/90 was an instant constant companion ... Eventually I moved past obsessing and dropped it until now.What a terrific piece of story telling this DVD turns out to be! Band documentaries as they so rarely are: Big Star as the Beatles without that lucky billiard ball shot from the Casbah to Hamburg to the Cavern to Brian Epstein. Equally possessed of song skills to overflowing, though not of the same deserved fate. To think that Big Star's time in history came so soon after the Fabs' demise, very much one phenomenon that should have taken up where a legend left off. So much promise to kick off the 70's, fizzling in the middle years, then redeemed by punk in the end.Not schmaltzy, not sappy or hackneyed. (A labour of a super fan's love.) Not a throw-away scene in the pile; everyone chiming in where so many main protagonists are no longer alive to set the record straight. 'Thought I detected emotion in John Fry's face in the final frame ... that 'what-could-have-been' look mixed with pride of accomplishment and dejection. The perfect ending. Poetic.(BTW, kudos to Amazon for their return policy. 'Ordered the blue-ray version in my haste to get in my order before xmas, and then getting it replaced with the DVD within days. Awesome system!)

...dal film di uno dei gruppi di culto più mitici della storia del rock. Mi era figurato una specie di film, invece è solo un documentario, una raccolta di interviste che avrebbero funzionato meglio su un libro che in un documentario. E si sente pochissima della loro musica...

this is why this band is so lamented.

I bought this to watch on my multi-region DVD player and sadly it refuses to play, ordering me to eject the disk as it is unlicensed in my region??. I have owned the DVD player for many years and have loads of region 1dvds which work fine. Gutted, good service from the supplier though. X

Fast delivery, perfect!