Music

Watch Neil Young in Year of the Horse tonight at 9pm on AUX Docs

by Allan Tong

Friday was the great Neil Young’s birthday and what better way to celebrate than to watch Year of the Horse.  This 1997 film by Jim Jarmusch chronicles Neil’s world tour with his best backing band, Crazy Horse.  Neil has just come off an amazing streak of 90s albums (including Ragged Glory and Mirrorball) and he’s rockin’ the free world with the best garage band ever, jamming on classics like Tonight’s The Night, Big Time, and Like A Hurricane.  Director Jim Jarmusch is a good match for Neil: both are iconoclasts, experimental and fiercely independent.  Jarmusch scatters unreleased footage from the 70s and 80s throughout the film, including an argument from the 1986 tour.  He also inserts interviews from manic fans from Germany.  Jarmusch shoots on various formats which is grainy but mirrors Neil’s grungy sound.  However the film’s highlight comes on a tour bus when Neil and Jarmusch discuss the Bible and how man was always a “fuck up.” Don’t watch Year of the Horse for great cinema.  Instead, crank this for a good time. Repeats Monday, November 15 @ 7:00 pm.