Last Days Here

Don Argott and Demian Fenton's 2011 documentary is about Bobby Liebling, the singer of the band Pentagram. Liebling was one of the founding figures of what became known as doom metal in the seventies; the band never reached significant success and he lives in the basement of his parents' house with more than forty years of drug addiction behind him. The documentary's starting point is a fan. Sean Pelletier is trying to reissue Liebling's recordings and get him back on stage. The film follows that effort across three years and never guarantees the outcome. The camera shows Liebling at his worst; the scenes of addiction are not softened. The film's ethical boundary was debated here: does the presence of the film help the recovery or record the collapse. The directors leave the question open. Who it's for: those who like music documentaries and portraits of subcultures. Who it's not for: viewers who want to avoid images of substance addiction; the film shows them at length and directly.