The Agony and the ecstasy of phil spector
Vikram Jayanti | USA / GB 2009 | 104 min.
Material: HD
Format: BluRay
Original language: English
Camera: Maryse Alberti
Editing: Emma Matthews
Sound: Alan Barker
Music: Teddy Bears, Ronettes, Crystals, Righteous Brothers u.a.
Production: VixPix Films, BBC
Print/Sales: VixPix Films
German Premiere
Phil Spector: the great songwriter and record producer, the sonic auteur of the shoop-shoop era, has seen his vast musical achievements eclipsed, in recent years, by his tabloid tribulations—notably his 2009 conviction on charges of murdering the actress Lana Clarkson.
This documentary is delving deeply into Spector’s artistic legacy, through well-chosen video and sound clips, incisive and analytical supertitles by Spector’s biographer Mick Brown, and, most of all, by Spector’s own recollections. He is featured a series of in-depth interviews, in which he discusses his classic work in illuminating detail and also insistently reminds viewers, in case they’ve forgotten, what a great artist he is. – Richard Brody, The New Yorker
Vikram Jayanti, born in New York in 1955. In 1977 he moved to Los Angeles to become a filmmaker. He began producing documentaries and later ran two documentary film festivals in Los Angeles. His future work garnered numerous awards, such as "When We Were Kings", which won a Special Jury Prize at Sundance and an Oscar in 1997.
Films (selection): I Am a Sex Addict 1993 | Feast of Death 2001 | Game Over: Kasparov and the Machine 2003 | Snowblind 2009 | The Agony and the Ecstasy of Phil Spector 2009