DOWN FROM THE MOUNTAIN (2001) ¢ ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Nick Doob, Chris Hegedus, D.A.Pennebaker
In May of 2000, the musicians who performed on the soundtrack of the Coen Brothers' "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" got together for a benefit concert at the Ryman Auditorium in Nashville. This film chronicles that event. It's a great showcase for a bunch of alternative and old-time country performers, the folks you won't hear on most country radio stations, and an aching final glimpse of goofball songwriter, riverboat pilot and fiddle guru John Hartford. Face trembling, wasted by cancer and chemotherapy, tangled gray hair sticking out from beneath a beat-up bowler hat, Hartford steals the movie and the show, a joking apparition, a ghost. Every underappreciated artist should be accorded such an elegant final bow.
D.A. Pennebaker
(1925-2019)
