Search - Down from the Mountain / Buena Vista Social Club on DVD

Down from the Mountain / Buena Vista Social Club
Actors: Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González
Directors: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker, Nick Doob, Wim Wenders
Genres: Indie & Art House, Music Video & Concerts, Musicals & Performing Arts, Documentary

G 2002 3hr 23min

Down from the Mountain — If you love the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack, D.A. Pennebaker, Chris Hegedus, and Nick Doob's exhilarating concert film Down from the Mountain will be sheer heaven. And if you're new to blu... more »egrass and "old-time mountain-style" music, the performances will be a revelation. John Hartford, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Gillian Welch, the Cox family, the venerable Ralph Stanley, and other traditional and alt-country artists who contributed the music to the Coen brothers' spaced odyssey gathered onstage in May 2000 at Nashville's Ryman Auditorium to benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame. Interviews and rehearsal footage set the stage for this stupendous concert, highlights of which include "(Didn't Leave) Nobody but the Baby" by the sirens Harris, Welch, and Krauss; the Coxes' "(Will There Be) Any Stars in My Crown"; and Stanley's haunting "O Death." As one performer recommends, "Just ease in, sit down, and listen." It could be your salvation. --Donald Liebenson Buena Vista Social Club

In 1996, composer, producer, and guitar legend Ry Cooder entered Egrem Studios in Havana with the forgotten greats of Cuban music, many of them in their 60s and 70s, some of them long since retired. The resulting album, Buena Vista Social Club, became a Grammy-winning international bestseller. When Cooder returned to Havana in 1998 to record a solo album by 72-year-old vocalist Ibrahim Ferrer, filmmaker Wim Wenders was on hand to document the occasion. Wenders splits the film between portraits of the performers, who tell their stories directly to the camera as they wander the streets and neighborhoods of Havana, and a celebration of the music heard in performance scenes in the studio, in their first concert in Amsterdam, and in their second and final concert at Carnegie Hall. The songs are too often cut short in this fashion, but Buena Vista Social Club is not a concert film. Wenders weaves the artist biographies with a glimpse of modern Cuba remembering its past, capturing a lost culture in music that is suddenly, unexpectedly revived for audiences in Havana and around the world. It's a loving portrait of a master class in Cuban music, with a vital cast of aging performers whose energy and passion belie their years. --Sean Axmaker

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Movie Details

Actors: Ralph Stanley, Emmylou Harris, Compay Segundo, Ibrahim Ferrer, Rubén González
Directors: Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker, Nick Doob, Wim Wenders
Creators: Wim Wenders, Bob Neuwirth, Deepak Nayar, Ethan Coen
Genres: Indie & Art House, Music Video & Concerts, Musicals & Performing Arts, Documentary
Sub-Genres: Indie & Art House, Buena Vista Social Club, Musicals & Performing Arts, Documentary
Studio: Lions Gate
Format: DVD - Color - Closed-captioned
DVD Release Date: 04/23/2002
Original Release Date: 06/04/1999
Theatrical Release Date: 06/04/1999
Release Year: 2002
Run Time: 3hr 23min
Screens: Color
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaDVD Credits: 2
Total Copies: 0
Members Wishing: 3
MPAA Rating: G (General Audience)
Languages: English, Spanish

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Movie Reviews

Arte en su esencia

Hugo L. Hernandez | VA, USA | 02/08/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Este es una experiencia unica, si eres un amante de la musica y el arte. Es increible lo que estos seres humanos pueden hacer con tan pocos medios, la unica explicacion que yo puedo encontrar es su amor a la musica"