runamokprods
A sad, lovely and poetic (if brief at 48 minutes) look at the life and music of singer-songwriter Nick Drake. As someone who respects Drake's work, but doesn't know it the way a real fan would, I found the documentary a bit opaque at times. I suspect it will have more impact to those already intimate with Drake's art. But the film was still strikingly visual, artistic and subtle compared to most retrospective pieces about artists, while still giving a surprising amount of insight into both Drake's battles with depression, and his creative process. It made me determined to sit down and really listen to Drake's music, which is, in some ways, the best compliment you can pay a film like this.
apocalypse_ciao
I first heard the music of Nick Drake at a tenant's apartment my mom was renting out to in 1995. His name was Matt, he was a musician just like me, and he owned the Fruit Tree lp set. We were in his kitchen and right before he played Five Leaves Left he said, "This is Nick Drake, I think you'll like him" and he was absolutely right. As "Time Has told me" was playing, on that cold damp grey morning, I immediately took to liking the music a lot and empathizing with this somber voice, plucking an acoustic guitar, and just knew it was great immediately. Now, I didn't rush out to get the Nick Drake records since they were so rare to find, this was pre Amazon.com and e-bay folks. But then a couple of years later Rykodisc re-issued the Fruit Tree lp's on cd. I immediately bought it and devoured the music and listened to it endlessly and intensely. His life and music, have never left me since. I often found a kinship and solace in what he was expressing and began to feel less alone with how I felt at times. Especially in my late teens and early twenties, when I found myself always on the outside of society's pressures of conformity, and the desire to express so much to people that I had conflict with in my life, or to women that enticed me, and not being able to find the right words to say.On the surface, Nick Drake's music seems to be the perfect accompaniment to college life, cafe sitting, and or people watching at first listen. But if you dig a little deeper, his music begins to embody that tongue-tied, outcast feeling, yet, in his words and music, there was always this acceptance of it, for better or worse, and the glimmer of hope that something better was just beyond the horizon. You start to hear in his words and music his wants, fears, struggles, and desires and you begin to identify with this extremely vulnerable yet strikingly poetic man. And the lyrics, chord structure, and playing, are just superb and top-notch, mixing folk, blues, jazz, and classical so effortlessly.It's a shame no one filmed Drake on his short and ultimately unsuccessful college tour as his producer Joe Boyd described. But in a way, that just adds to the mystique surrounding his life and music. I love the part where the producers behind Bryter Layter deconstruct "At the Chime of a City Clock" and one of them starts to bob their head to the jazzy groove of the song. The tape of Molly Drake, Nick's mother, played by his sister Gabrielle, provides a much needed insight into Nick's inspiration musically as well.As a Nick Drake fan, it would've been great to hear more from Joe Boyd about what the recording of the song "Which Will" was like or at least to have used it in the film which I think was his best song. But all of his songs are great. It would've also been nice to hear from Richard Thompson from Fairport Convention who played lead guitar on Nick's first two records and hear his viewpoint on the myth surrounding Drake's life and music and what it was like to work with him in the studio.It's so sad when his mother speaks about how he felt he had failed to reach the people he wanted to speak to with his music and that he couldn't write any more songs. It's just so completely the opposite to me because he succeeded tremendously in connecting his own trials and tribulations with other people's struggles and why people who discover his music pass the message of his life and music to others, because it means that much.This review is more than just a review of a film of a folk singer. It's an homage to Nick Drake because his music has helped me and probably many others, young and old, with their own internal demons. If you haven't listened to Nick Drake, please do so and watch this documentary. If you're already a fan you won't be disappointed.
steventpodgorski
****************very well done, moody documentary. It showed one time only in Boston, a couple of years ago.. felt lucky to go. My questions 1) is it available anywhere in the world on DVD or VHS. Netflix has it in there catalog, but does not actually carry it. 2)the movie also features the music of Nicks mother, Molly Drake. The tapes they played were extremely haunting...absolutely beautiful.. does anyone out there know if her music is available. as far as the film..good luck trying to see it.... there isn't much i can say about ND or his life that his sister, friends, and colleagues can't....
stueygill
The film is really a bunch of relevant imagery and interviews put to Nick Drakes music. This, I think, was the best approach in tackling the simple and sad story of this ever growing in popularity singer/song-writer.A Skin Too Few ends up looking like part documentary and part promotional video, with some whole songs put into context with footage of Cambridge for 'Five Leaves Left' period and the streets of London for 'Bryter Layter'.This is not an in depth source of information, rather a gentle story - told mainly by the music - in a way that will only add to the mystery of why Nick Drakes music seems to genuinely touch so many people.
