Tony Grist (poliphilo) wrote,
Tony Grist
poliphilo

Living In The Material World

I never exactly had a favourite Beatle. Or- to put it more accurately- my favourite Beatle kept on changing. Sad thing is it was never Ringo.

Even though Ringo is sweet....

Living in the Material World makes the case for George. And why not? George is the one who, after the hullaballoo died down, did the most interesting things with his free time. Because he knew- deep down- that the world is just a funny old illusion (when he sang all things must pass he really meant it)  there was a kind of devil-may-care insouciance about the projects he took on. Handmade films, the Travelling Wilburys, the ukeleles, the gardening at Friar's Court- with all of them he was following his heart, not trying too hard; and so all of them were touched by cool. 

People loved him. I mean, they really did. His friends- Ringo, Jackie Stewart, Eric Clapton, Tom Petty et al-  get choked up talking about how he's no longer around.

The movie has Martin Scorsese's name on the tin and has the snap you'd expect.  With its lack of an explanatory voice-over and its jump-cuts (like the disjunctions of an acid trip) it shares George's own attitude to the merely temporal.
 
My favourite Beatles song is Blue Jay Way. At least, for the next few days it is...

Don't you be long
Don't you be very long
Or I may be asleep.

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