Supelice Dreadfully Boring

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

ChampDavSlim The acting is good, and the firecracker script has some excellent ideas.

Taha Avalos The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

bob the moo In the seventies, Arthur "Killer" Kane was the base player for influential punk band "The New York Dolls". Nearly thirty years later he is living in LA and working as a librarian in a family history centre, riding the bus everywhere and living on a tiny income . Director Greg Whiteley starts the film focusing on Kane and his life today but, during the film, an opportunity comes up to reunite the Dolls for a gig in London. Arthur accepts and the camera follows him as he reunites with people he hasn't seen for decades.I know very little about the New York Dolls, only being vaguely familiar with their music and could only have told you David Johansen's name out of the whole group. However this didn't seem to matter here because the film starts out to be more about the very low-key existence of a fallen rock star as represented by Arthur Kane. This aspect of it is very interesting and provides plenty of moments that are touching, comic and telling. Director Whiteley is affectionate to his subject but is not sentimental and the mix is almost spot on because it feels a balanced view of this man who now rides a bus to a low-wage job, is balding and just looks like a man who lived with his mother for fifty years and is now trying to get by without her.He is a wonderfully unassuming character and it is a joy to spend this time with him because he has all this tragedy, sadness, hope and survival. I knew so little about the Dolls that I did not even know that he had died and the end of the film is almost unbearably bittersweet and it hurt to learn of his death while I had just spent an hour getting to know it. Alongside the film focusing on Arthur the London gig gives a way into the Dolls themselves which does expand on who Arthur is but also allows for a potted history of the Dolls. Lots of contributions and wonderfully candid footage combine to build this whole up and it makes for a great film.I'm pretty sure that fans of the Dolls will enjoy this but for me I can only speak as a casual viewer with no knowledge. As such I loved it. I thought it was a tremendously touching, tragic and comic character study that folds into a rockumentary of the Dolls and the fact that I knew nothing about the subject only meant that the news of Arthur's sudden death just felt like a kick in the gut. A great film – fan or not.

Blakkandekka Arthur 'Killer' Kane was bass guitarist with the meteorically-careered New York Dolls in the early seventies. Although The Dolls were hugely influential, spurring countless acts to pick up their guitars, you may never have heard of them. A shame, but that shouldn't stop you seeing this hugely enjoyable and moving documentary as it's not really about The Dolls, even though it's a good resume of what they were about: it's actually about Arthur, a damaged but good-natured and enormously likable man.Superficially his story follows the stereotypical arc of the late twentieth century rock and roll flame-out: celebrity at a young age followed by drink and drug fuelled oblivion. Where it departs from cliché, and its where the movie's heart lies, is that Arthur redeems himself in a way that nobody that knew him could possibly have imagined and finally manages to give balance and shape to his life. As such it has what I can only describe as a uniquely satisfying unhappy ending. See it.

patrickthand First, I confess that I never "got" The New York Dolls.Second, this is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen.The film is a bittersweet, understated but fascinating portrayal of Arthur Kane, the one-time degenerate New York Doll bass player turned Mormon, as he prepares for a reunion concert with his former band mates, and, as it turns out, a far more important gig. The filmmaker treats all of the subjects(including Morrissey, David Johanssen, numerous LDS members, the LDS Church itself, and most of all, Kane) with dignity and respect, and without judgment. The film's unstated message of tolerance and understanding makes this worth watching by all.

Ric-7 There are so many wonderful things in this film that it would be a disservice for me to point them out if you haven't seen the film. If you've seen it, I need not remind you. The cinematography leaves quite a bit to be desired, but that is amply compensated by the humanity which enlightens this film. I am not sure that the film can be fully appreciated by any viewer under 30. But once you have the perspective of age, so that you can view your own life as "then" and "now," this film would be infinitely more meaningful. And the ending of this documentary is something no director could have planned. Outstanding.