Rent Brian Eno: 1971–1977: The Man Who Fell to Earth (2011)

Documentary of British maverick covers period of 1972-1978 - Brian Eno: 1971–1977: The Man Who Fell to Earth review by Ziggy S

I think Brian Eno to be a fascinating character and in my opinion he has been involved from some of the most esoteric and avant-garde music of the 1970s. Of course, Eno was a significant influence on the first two Roxy Music albums and went on to find his own voice with his subsequent solo career, with "Another Green World", and perhaps my personal favourite of his work, "Here Come The Warm Jets". I thought the documentary very informative, particularly the section concerning his work with the German groups Kluster and Harmonia, which I previously knew little about. In contrast the section on Eno's influence on Bowie's Berlin albums, "Low" and "Heroes" (personal favourites of mine) was frustratingly brief though perhaps the film-makers were wary of shifting focus too much from Eno himself.

On the downside, there was little contribution from Brian Eno talking himself, perhaps 2 minutes in total. The majority of the documentary is taken up by various talking heads, biographers and critics, one of which was particularly soporific! Some of the talking heads were fascinating but the majority were a little self-involved and at 150 minutes the documentary did drag at times. On the whole, more time given over to the actual music itself, rather than frustratingly short clips, and some interviews with more of the musicians that actually collaborated with Eno would have made for a much better documentary.