Starting with the image of a tour bus warming its engine in the stillness of an empty lot, this haunting, personal portrait of music legend Levon Helm evokes the mood of a lifetime spent on the road. Jacob Hatley's extraordinarily intimate documentary finds Helm, a founding member of The Band, at home in Woodstock in the midst of creating his first studio album in 25 years. The ultimate survivor, he's overcome drugs, bankruptcy, the bitter breakup of The Band and a bout of throat cancer -but then, as the rueful title indicates, he wasn't in it for his health
Direction
Hatley disappears completely — just you and Levon's living room.
Sound
That ravaged voice rebuilding itself, note by painful note.
Director
Jacob Hatley
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Helm was so broke he nearly lost his Woodstock barn to foreclosure; the documentary itself helped save it through renewed touring interest.
The title comes from Helm's actual response when asked why he kept performing through illness — a quintessential American artist's shrug at mortality.
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Reactions from the web
Finally a movie about THE man.
@JByrd029 13
My homeboy !! I was raised out 40 miles from where he was raised , I was on the MS side and he was on the Ark side and many years difference but one of my All time fav singers !!
@dustingordon1295 2
Oh shit. I'm going to cry all the way through this fuckin thing.
@trickhealey 7
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