LEONARD COHEN: I'M YOUR MAN (2005) ¢ ¢ 1/2
D: Lian Lunson
A cursory look at the poet/songwriter's life and career, done with interview clips and concert footage. Cohen's an elusive subject, even when he's doing the talking, revealing what he wants to and deflecting the rest. In the musical segments, Nick Cave, Rufus Wainright, Kate and Anne McGarrigle and others take turns demonstrating how deceptively hard it is for somebody other than Leonard Cohen to get at the heart of a Leonard Cohen song. Beth Orton comes off the best, maybe because her unadorned vocal style on "Angel of Mercy" most closely approximates Cohen's own. It's not till the man himself steps behind the microphone, backed by U2, that a sense of what he's really about starts to emerge. You see it in the twinkling eyes and you hear it in the twisted lyrics and the soothing, doom-deep voice. If you're looking for a shot of hemlock to go with your gin and tonic, or a joke to get you by on your way to the apocalypse, he's your man.
