leonard cohen - i'm your man (2005)

Se da un lato gran parte del merito va ricercato nel concerto tributo tenutosi nel 2005 a Montreal e che occupa, infatti, i 3/4 della pellicola, dall'altro va riconosciuto alla Lunson il merito di aver reso il tutto particolarmente caldo ed avvolgente. Gli artisti che prendono parte al concerto e che reinterpretano le canzoni di Cohen (e cosiderando che è appunto delle canzoni di Cohen che si sta parlando, già questo è un merito non indifferente) sono, a mio avviso, assolutamente spettacolari. Tra famiglie di musicisti folk - The Handosme Family ("A Thousand Kisses Deep" interepretata in maniera favolosa) e la famiglia Wainwright - voci meravigliosamente intense - "Anthem" cantata dalla Christensen e dalla Batalla è da brividi - e artisti di una originalità e singolarità tutta loro - N. Cave, J. Cocker, Anthony - il documentario delinea perfettamente la profondità, la delicatezza, la forza delle opere di Leonard Cohen; delle opere di un cantautore, senza mezzi termini, strepitoso, uno di quegli artisti che dovrebbe portare la gente a rivalutare la definizione stessa di "artista" e ad usare il termine con assoluta parsimonia.
E poi, ovviamente, ci sono loro, Lui ed il suo dono, quella voce unica, inconfondibile, a rendere tutto perfetto:

"Sometimes, when you no longer see yourself as the hero of your own drama, you know, expecting victory after victory, and you understand deeply that this is not paradise... I found that things became a lot easier when I no longer expected to win. I tried to put this into that song called 'A Thousand Kisses Deep', you know, where you understand that you abandon your masterpiece and you.. and you sink into the real masterpiece"

Su Cohen ci sarebbe da dire davvero tanto, troppo, ma non è questa la sede per farlo. Mi limito quindi a riportare uno dei suoi testi che amo di più:

"Teachers

I met a woman long ago
her hair the black that black can go,
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Soft she answered no.
I met a girl across the sea,
her hair the gold that gold can be,
Are you a teacher of the heart?
Yes, but not for thee.

I met a man who lost his mind
in some lost place I had to find,
follow me the wise man said,
but he walked behind.

I walked into a hospital
where none was sick and none was well,
when at night the nurses left
I could not walk at all.

Morning came and then came noon,
dinner time a scalpel blade
lay beside my silver spoon.

Some girls wander by mistake
into the mess that scalpels make.
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to break.

One morning I woke up alone,
the hospital and the nurses gone.
Have I carved enough my Lord?
Child, you are a bone.

I ate and ate and ate,
no I did not miss a plate, well
How much do these suppers cost?
We'll take it out in hate.

I spent my hatred everyplace,
on every work on every face,
someone gave me wishes
and I wished for an embrace.

Several girls embraced me, then
I was embraced by men,
Is my passion perfect?
No, do it once again.

I was handsome I was strong,
I knew the words of every song.
Did my singing please you?
No, the words you sang were wrong.

Who is it whom I address,
who takes down what I confess?
Are you the teachers of my heart?
We teach old hearts to rest.

Oh teachers are my lessons done?
I cannot do another one.
They laughed and laughed and said, Well child,
are your lessons done?
are your lessons done?
are your lessons done?"


"Let's be serious here for a second. There are very, very few people, who occupy the grounds that Leonard Cohen walks on." (Bono)