In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon, 2023.
Directed by Alex Gibney.
Starring Paul Simon.
SYNOPSIS:
In Restless Dreams follows Paul Simon inside the studio making his new album Seven Psalms while looking back on his six-decade career with countless musical peaks from Sounds of Silence to Graceland.
Paul Simon is one of popular music’s most well-respected figures as both a member of the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel and a solo artist, and acclaimed documentarian Alex Gibney takes on the arduous task of profiling such a prolific artist in the new film In Restless Dreams.
Rather than a traditionally structured documentary, the film is broken down into a dissection of Simon’s latest work Seven Psalms and the recording of it and his musical process. This is interspersed with reflections on his life and career, covering many of his best-loved songs and milestones, in a mixture of footage recorded for the film and archive footage from previous interviews and recording sessions.
The footage of the recording of Simon’s latest work is eye-opening and the most melancholic part of the film as he struggles to record to the level he is perhaps accustomed to, having lost hearing suddenly in one of his ears. It shows how much of a perfectionist Simon is, still striving to put out innovative work and underlines how important music still is to his life, even with over 60 years as a recording artist under his belt.
It is surprising how much of the film is devoted to Simon & Garfunkel, given the acrimonious nature of their split. This is a chance for fans to glean new information about some of popular music’s best-loved songs like The Sound of Silence, The Boxer or Bridge over Troubled Water. The recording of their final album shows how ahead of their time the pair were in recording techniques and also hints at an interest in world music that would come to define Simon’s solo career on record’s like Graceland and Rhythm of The Saints.
The greater focus on Simon & Garfunkel shows how heavily their sound still resonates and the drama behind their breakup lends itself to more drama than some of Simon’s solo work. We get a sense that Simon never liked the concept of fame and the attention it brought, perhaps best evidenced through a segment on his tumultuous relationship with Carrie Fisher. We see the highs and lows of his solo work and how the relative underperformance of the film and album One Trick Pony and Hearts & Bones, envisaged as a Simon & Garfunkel reunion record, left him at the lowest point in his solo career.
Of course, it would be hard not to reflect on the huge success of Graceland and it is surprising how late it comes into play but it remains an iconic work that acted in many ways as more than a record with the South African musicians featured at the time of apartheid. This lines up nicely with a segment on how he travelled to Jamaica for Mother & Child Reunion, collaborating with members of Toots and The Maytals and Brazilian musicians he later collaborated with.
There might not be anything entirely new to be gleaned from the film but at 3 ½ hours it is a deep dive into one of popular music’s most recognisable names, going some way to unpacking his personality and his musical process. Juxtaposing the recording of his latest work with a career retrospective is a clever framing device, it is melancholic, often funny and above all else a celebration of a musical legacy few can rival.
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★★★★ / Movie: ★★★★
Chris Connor
