ROLLING LIKE A STONE (Stefan Berg, Magnus Gertten, UK). 65 minutes. Subtitled. Sunday (June 15), 3:30 pm, at the NFB Cinema (150 John). $10, free w/ NXNE wristband (see page 62). 416-?973-?3012. Rating: NNNN
Some rock stars fade before their best-before date. Some don’t.
The Rolling Stones haven’t given up yet. But the Swedish rock stars who hung out with the Stones and had just as many groupies are now sweet but sad burnout cases living in the past.
Rolling Like A Stone tracks these men and their ex-?girlfriends and gives them a voice.
The film begins with archival footage of Tommy, a member of Namelosers, and Bran of the Gonks and their girlfriends at an after-?hours house party with Mick, Keith and Brian in 1965. This footage alone makes the film a must-?see for Stones completists.
Directors Stefan Berg and Magnus Gertten then cut between Tommy and Bran talking about their lives as rock stars and footage of the Swedish rockers in their prime.
Their exes make the scene, too. One of them, Mona, had a lengthy affair with Brian Jones. Her hilarious comments on his vanity – he washed and combed his hair five times a day – collide with her sad speculation that, had she agreed to go back to England with him, he may not have died.
But no juxtaposition in this superb doc rivals the one in which a shot of Tommy – alone and forgotten – contrasts with the Rolling Stones, well into their 60s, getting off a plane as the fans still scream.
