DOC NYC 2010: Darkness on the Edge of Town

Of all the spellbound fans that director Thom Zimny pulled straight into the
essence of Bruce Springsteen last night, perhaps none was more transfixed than E
Street Band drummer Max Weinberg. Even after more than three decades of living
the music, and living the language of the band in its complex interplays,
Weinberg says Zimny’s concert film “Darkness on the Edge of Town” showed him
something new.

“I’m fascinated by Bruce’s eyes when he’s singing,” Weinberg said during a Q&A
after the film’s world premiere at DOC NYC. “I’ve never seen that, the view from
the front.”

What’s more: “Thom captured the grit of what it’s like to play. I’m not sure
I’ve ever seen that in a concert film.”

The eyes, the grit, the individual pieces of the band and the cohesion and
interplay of all the pieces – Zimny’s magical film not just captures it but
almost makes you experience it as part of the band.  And that, Zimny told the
audience at the Ziegfeld Theatre, is exactly what The Boss had in mind. It was
Springsteen’s idea to film with no audience, just seven guys up on the darkened
stage at the Paramount Theatre in Asbury Park. Springsteen was the one who
wanted to bring the cameras in close, to “let the viewer be part of the E Street
Band.” And he wanted to focus on the individual parts, while also capturing all
the intensity and emotion of the band as a whole.

Zimny pulls all that off gorgeously. In a festival celebrating all the
storytelling art forms both separately and collectively, this film and the
Springsteen-Zimny collaboration that created it is a sort of workshop in itself,
a piece of art conveying a piece of art while melding the music and photography
to become its own art form.

The film is just 15 cameras, the band and the music, nothing extraneous, with
all the songs in the classic 1978 album performed in order so the narrative
structure remains intact.

The photography perfectly mirrors the album and the artist: elegant in a
rough-hewn sort of way, at once simple and complex, stark and passionate yet
with enough soft edges to soothe. It’s such a perfect match that – sacrilegious
though this may sound – you almost don’t even need to hear the music. The
lighting – call it lightness on the edge of darkness – and the closeups and the
unexpected angles and perspectives all combine to take you into the music even
without the music. And though it’s a moving picture, the closeups are so
stunning that each could be a still photograph, meant to put on a wall and
absorb and examine for a very long time.

“The thing about the E Street Band: We’re like a flying wedge, with Bruce at the
point, and everyone pushing in that direction to help fulfill his vision. And
that’s what you’ve captured so well,” Weinberg told Zimny during the Q&A. “You
really captured the cohesion, the interplay of all the parts.”

The film wasn’t created for the big screen, but fortunately DOC NYC Artistic
Director Thom Powers took action to change that. Powers saw a clip six weeks ago
following the premiere of “Promise: the Making of Darkness on the Edge of Town”
at the Toronto International Film Festival, where he’s the documentary
programmer. Like “Promise,” the concert film will be included on DVD as part of
the box set for the reissue of the “Darkness” album later this year. But Powers
knew immediately that it demanded more than a 40-inch TV screen (or a 15-inch
computer screen), and that’s when it’s helpful to have your own doc festival in
the wings.

Noting the concept of the full “Darkness” album as an art form, Powers asked at
the Q&A whether the era of the album is passing.

“If Bruce Springsteen has anything to do with it, there will be many more
albums,” Weinberg replied. “There will always be serious artists who want an
overall concept to be captured.”

–Paula Froke