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Nothing Can Hurt Me
Released by: Magnolia Pictures
Released on: November 26th, 2013.
Director: Drew DeNicola, Olivia Mori
Cast: Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jon Auer
Year: 2012
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The Movie:
Documentarians Drew DeNicola and Olivia Mori collaborated on the 2012 film Nothing Can Hurt Me in an attempt to tell the story of Big Star, widely regarded was one of those bands that should have made it but didn't. The documentary begins in the days before the band was formed and introduces us to the founding members with the emphasis put on guitar player Chris Bell and vocalist Alex Chilton. As Chilton had previously found some success as a teenager singing for The Box Tops, as Big Star started playing and gaining some recognition, a lot of the focus wound up falling on Chilton more than the other band members.
So shortly after recording their first album, Bell left the band for various other endeavors. He would be replaced and Big Star would record two more LPs for Ardent Records (at one point a subsidiary of Stax) before breaking up for good. Chilton went on to dabble in punk rock, produce material for The Cramps (who do appear in about a minute's worth of awesome archival footage), and release some solo material. Bell would pass on at a fairly early age after converting to Christianity, Chilton would also pass away, though not until 2010. Big Star never really found their audience, though in the last few years as their previously hard to find albums have been reissued, that seems to be changing.
The documentary does a good job of making the case for Big Star's importance focusing not just on Chilton but on Bell and drummer Jody Stephens as well. There's a wealth of great material here to enjoy, everything from archival clips with the band members who have passed on to newly recorded segments with Stephens, various rock journalists, producers, engineers and more. All of this serves to paint an interesting picture of the Memphis rock scene of the late sixties through the mid-seventies and of a band that, had they hit around the same time that say R.E.M. broke into the mainstream, probably would have sold a whole lot more records than they did in their day.
There isn't really a beginning, middle and end to this, which makes the documentary a little languid. It comes to a close around the time that it covers Chilton's death but in the last few years since that event, Big Star seems to continue to win over newer fans. That'll likely continue now that this documentary, which was pretty well received, hits home video and various streaming platforms. It does do a good job of filling in the blanks of the band's history, particularly when it comes to Bell, who wasn't nearly as well documented as Chilton was. Interviews with his brother help to reveal a lot of interesting facts about his personality and his motives as well as how and why things played out the way they did towards the end of his life.
Well edited and well-paced, this is interesting and entertaining. Being a fan of the music used throughout the picture will certainly add to your enjoyment but it's not necessarily a pre-requisite. The amount of research and archival material used in the film speaks for itself and is reason enough for anyone with an interest in the history of pop/rock music to want to give this film a shot.
Video/Audio/Extras:
Nothing Can Hurt Me arrives on Blu-ray framed at 1.78.1 widescreen in an AVC encoded 1080p high definition transfer culled from various sources of varying degrees of quality. Some of the old film footage is pretty grainy and riddled with print damage while some of the video footage is soft and shows tape rolls - but it is what it is, that's just the nature of archival footage. The newly shot interview clips are crisp and clean and colorful. The disc is well authored, there aren't any compression issues. This isn't the type of movie you seek out for blistering video quality, but what's here looks perfectly fine given the origins of the movie.
The DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix on the disc is very good. The music is spread out very effectively and while this is mostly just music and dialogue, when effects are used there's some good directionality and presence to them. Some archival clips have some hiss that likely couldn't be eliminated but outside of that there's nothing to complain about here. Levels are nicely balanced, dialogue is clean and clear and all in all this sounds very good.
Extras start off with three deleted scenes - a bit covering the band's 1972 tour, a clip relating to a show they played in New York City at Max's Kansas City in 1973 and some bits from a 1974 tour. This is interesting stuff, it could have been left in the feature without hurting it. Combined these clock in at roughly eleven minutes or so.
From there we get some interesting interview/clip/footage collections, the first of which is eighteen minutes or so that follow Chris Bell around a bit more. This sheds more light on his substance abuse, his religious convictions and of course his abilities as a musician. There's a similar twenty-four minute collection relating to Chilton that elaborate on the years in which Big Star was still active after Bell had departed for other opportunities. There's also a fourteen minute piece where John Fry and Adam Hill sit in Ardent Studios and discuss working with the band recording their various endeavors with them.
Rounding out the extras are a trailer for the feature, trailers for a few other Magnolia Pictures properties, animated menus and chapter selection.
The Final Word:
You don't even really have to be a Big Star fan too appreciate Nothing Can Hurt Me. It's a well put together documentary that tells a genuinely interesting story. Of course if you appreciate the music that helps but this peels back enough of the history behind the band and their influence that there's a lot more to it than just some folks talking about music, there's real personality here. Magnolia's Blu-ray release is a good one, the audio and video quality are solid and some decent extras round out the package very nicely.
Click on the images below for full sized Blu-ray screen caps!
