Year of the Horse

Jim Jarmusch follows Neil Young and Crazy Horse on their 1996 tour. The documentary mixes concert footage with the bus, the dressing room and archive material. The band members tell their own history and the friction between them reaches the camera too. It was shot on Super 8 and Hi8, a choice that deliberately leaves the image dirty, grainy and like an old recording. Alongside Neil Young are Poncho Sampedro, Billy Talbot and Ralph Molina of Crazy Horse. It premiered at the San Francisco International Film Festival on 8 May 1997 and opened in the United States on 8 October 1997. An album of the same name also appeared in 1997, with different tracks from the film. The reception was poor. Rotten Tomatoes sits at 48 percent, the consensus saying it might be worth a watch for hardcore fans of Neil Young or Jim Jarmusch but will test the patience of most other viewers. Roger Ebert named it the worst film of 1997. Who it is for: people who listen to Neil Young and like concert films at their most disorderly. Who it is not for: anyone new to the band. The film explains nothing, and for some viewers the image quality is an obstacle on its own.