Colibel
Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.
Inclubabu
Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.
Fairaher
The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.
Niklas Pivic
This documentary has a lot of beautiful photography in it. A French film-maker, Dominique Tarlé, has produced a massive quantity of great photographs of the band during the period they evaded England for tax reasons (paying 93% in tax for all they made!) and went to the southern coast of France and made "Exile on Main St.", which I think is their best album. What ensued? Debauchery: drugs, the mafia, alcohol. Yes, but also a great album which had a lot of technical aspects to it that were hard to sort out due to everything being recorded in the basement of Keith's house where all the musicians were placed in different rooms due to leakage - and the album rocks, to say the least. This documentary plays on the good times the band had with each-other and their families, not on how things went pear-shaped towards the end and how they left. A remarkably fine documentary, especially image-wise.
Tashtago
As a promo for the re-release of Exile, the film does its job. But as other posters have noted there's not much of real substance here. Any Stones fan basically knows the background of the album and it has been covered although briefly in other bio-pics like 25 by 5, and in interviews. I was wanting a little more and by that I don't mean what Don Was and Will.a.am think of the recording. It would have been nice to see the writing process of a song through from beginning to end. The whole creative recording process from first germ of an idea to the final mix of the song. It could have been done too with the very same combination of stock footage, still shots , and interviews. Oh well the album is still great. And wow was Anita Pallenberg ever sexy then.
meslon
This documentary of the so-called 'making' of the great Stones' Album Exile on Main Street is a tedious and totally unconvincing and disappointing bit of science fictionalized fluff Having lived the early 70's in much the same way as the band and the hanger's on I failed to find a logical moment in the almost 50 minutes of this wingefest Much whining about conditions??? It was 1971 and life was wonderful if you had the money and the drugs and the women and the music The film is ludicrous and the statements are out of context A poor piece of work about a great band is only partially saved by the music Save 50 minutes of your life and listen to the album whilst watching the documentary-without the sound.........
moonspinner55
Frequently fascinating and exceptional rock-documentary on the Rolling Stones circa 1971-1972 when, in the midst of managerial and tax issues, the group left their native UK for the South of France to record their next album, "Exile on Main Street". The record (the band's first double-album) is a now-legendary mix of rock, blues, and country-&-western, tempered with Mick Jagger's passionate vocals and Keith Richards' astounding lead guitar. The narrative isn't streamlined for coherency, and a North American tour (represented here by live concert footage shot in Nashville) seems to appear out of nowhere (indeed, it is followed by a trip to Los Angeles where more recording is done). The record was trashed by most rock critics upon release, however the caveat that "Exile" is now considered the Stones' masterpiece is too easily delivered (we are not told how long it actually took for the music to garner such a reputation). Aside from a vintage Kasey Casem radio broadcast, we don't even know how well the album did financially. Still, flaws aside, this is a very well-made film on the making of an emotionally-charged musical document, and the recording process--its gestation and behind-the-scenes turmoil--will be hypnotic to most music fans. *** from ****
