The reasons to watch filmmaker Tom DiCillo's new documentary on the Doors lie more in the small pictures than the big one. Don't watch it, for instance, hoping to learn whether their late lead singer, Jim Morrison, was a cosmic prophet or just another rock star burnout.
FILMMAKER TOM DICILLO'S SPELLBINDING DOCUMENTARY ON THE DOORS SKILLFULLY STITCHES TOGETHER MOSTLY UNSEEN ARCHIVAL MATERIAL TO GIVE A REAL TIME-AND-PLACE FEEL OF BEING WITH ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BANDS OF THE ROCK ERA.
Doors frontman Jim Morrison often went too far, so it's a relief that When You're Strange: A Film About The Doors doesn't. Tom DiCillo's documentary does use the s-word — that would be "shaman"—but doesn't stumble as far into the mystic as Oliver Stone's tripped-out The Doors did.
In a city of visual sensory overload, the challenge is to take everything higher, and nowhere is that more important than on Fremont Street, Las Vegas’ stepchild to the Strip.
