To be fair, it must be stated early on that anyone who is not
a fan--and I mean a huge fan--of Neil Young will be monumentally
annoyed by director Jim (Dead Man) Jarmusch's pseudo-documentary
of the man, his band and their music. Year of the Horse
depicts the band live, in spontaneous rehearsal settings and during
heated backstage moments that feature Young, drummer Ralph Molina,
bassist Billy Talbot and guitarist Frank "Poncho" Sampedro
basically telling each other to fuck off in quintessential rock
star form. Filmed in super-8, 16-millimeter and high-8 formats,
Jarmusch's film includes footage of Young and Crazy Horse in action
at various points in their 28-year history with each other. The
film presents candid interviews with each band member, various
members of the Crazy Horse tech crew and Young's father. Not a
single segment, though, is particularly telling and, in that sense,
the film fails as a paint-by-numbers documentary. Little emphasis
is given to the historical timeline that has seen Crazy Horse
through any number of ups, downs and sabbaticals--a point made
three times during interview segments with Sampedro who asserts
himself as the seasoned, ultimate "band guy" by taking
verbal jabs at Jarmusch. "You think you can come in here
with a couple of cute little questions," he says to the director
behind the camera, "and get what it's all about. You think
you can make some artsy fartsy film that will make people think
you're cool, but you can't get anything with your two questions."
The rest of the band's members--especially the soft-spoken but
intense Molina--are more forthcoming. Although most of the questions
are never quite verbalized throughout the film, the most important
insight revealed is that the enigmatic Crazy Horse "sound"
is the culmination of nearly three decades of the four members'
various liaisons. The individual interviews are like hearing brothers
describe each other: There's never any clear delineation between
the members of Crazy Horse. And their working relationship is
either the most graphic example of codependency or the most explicit
testament to rock band solidarity known to man. They all go on
at length about the collective and how Crazy Horse wouldn't be
possible without the elements that each member brings to the table.
Young describes his bandmates as though they were disciples: Molina
the quiet, insightful observer; Talbot the grounded backbone,
and Sampedro the strength and energy. How, exactly, Young fits
into the group is left to remain an unspoken mystery, but it is
here that Jarmusch steps in and becomes crucial to the success
of his film. By simply editing in concert footage, Jarmusch is
able to make it quite clear that Neil Young is the catalyst that
causes Crazy Horse to roar into its glory. It's not what he plays
so much as how passionately he plays it. An awkward, uncomfortable
bandleader off stage, he becomes the band's pilot light when the
lights go down, and they use his energy to fuel their own.
Year of the Horse is far less a biographical look at Neil
Young and Crazy Horse than it is a tribute to the band by Jarmusch
who is quite obviously a fan. And no one needs to tell you how
painful that can be. For the non- or casual Neil Young fan, Year
of the Horse is equivalent to being forced to take part in
a 107-minute slide show presented by annoying in-laws, documenting
their 1976 Disneyland vacation. But for the rest of us, the film
is a unique glimpse of Crazy Horse doing their best Crazy Horse
impersonation. "Who do you think you are, God?" asks
Jarmusch of Young during one of the film's most entertaining and
enlightening segments. And although no one replies, it is apparent
by the stark grandeur that pervades the film that if Neil Young
doesn't think he's God, he's among the very few.
--Michael Henningsen
Interviews
Year of the Horse 
Full Length Reviews
Year of the Horse 
Capsule Reviews
Year of the Horse 
Other Films by Jim Jarmusch
Dead Man 
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