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Archivo histórico * Hemeroteca * Archive * datos
DOCUMENTARY / Meeting people is easy
U.K/Europe. November 30th, the States on April
20,
En España el estreno del documental Meeting
people is easy se hizo el día 4 de mayo
 RADIOHEAD
Meeting People Is Easy (Kudos Films/Phonogram)
Fantastic music, planes and motorways. Interviews,
interviews. More interviews. Beautiful new music echoing through empty
foreign halls. Good manners in difficult circumstances. Tantrums. Sulking.
Fantastic music. The angst, the angst...
That's Meeting People Is Easy, a year on the road
with RADIOHEAD, filmed wonkily but artfully by GRANT GEE. Gee says it's
about "a bunch of articulate, essentially shy people who... find themselves
in the strange/insane/seductive world of end-of-the-century celebrity,
with thousands of cameras and microphones constantly siphoning little bits
off them."
And it's true, that's what it is about. In fact,
that's exactly what it is - it's a bloke with a camera and a bloke with
a boom mic following a group of shy but tremendously exciting musicians
around the world and documenting them dealing with all the fuss they've
caused. So we go to Barcelona with them and sit through some inane interviews
as newsprint scrolls down the screen. We go to New York and sit through
some more inane interviews. After another show THOM is refused entry to
a club where he thought his aftershow party was and the doorman yells,
"Write a song about it! Radiohead! Creep! Dickhead!" as Thom trudges miserably
away.
We hear some brilliant new songs recorded by Thom
on the bus and in soundchecks. We watch Radiohead touchdown in Paris, Sydney
and Tokyo, and hear them play more ace shows. In Berlin we watch Colin
almost reach the end of his tether with a podgy NME hack (That's you, that
is - Ed) and complain about not being able to see the city - and we don't
feel much sympathy for either character.
But the most frustrating thing about this video
is that you could read every word of every feature or review that gets
scrolled down the screen and learn only a fraction of what this film teaches
you about the band. It's an exhaustive view of the group at work, but still
you discover nothing about who they really are. They're clever swine, Radiohead.
8/10
Ted Kessler
NME
Radiohead Documentary Gets Additional Screenings
Radiohead is currently prepping material for its
next record, the much-anticipated follow-up to the band's 1997 breakthrough
album, "O.K. Computer," but fans can catch a glimpse of the band in the
documentary "Meeting People Is Easy," whose theatrical run has been extended
through mid-June.
The film, which has been touring art and cinema houses
in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and San Francisco, is now scheduled to
reach at least three more cities, including Boston, Detroit and Seattle.
"Meeting Is People Easy" was also screened over the weekend on May 1 -
2 as part of Cleveland's annual film festival.
"Meeting People Is Easy" will make its broadcast
premiere on MTV on May 16, with a 50-minute cutting of Grant Gee's 95-minute
film to be shown on a special edition of "120 Minutes" that will also
include special interview and performance footage from Radiohead.
On May 18, "Meeting People Is Easy" will be released
to music and video stores in both DVD and VHS formats. Capitol Records
had hoped to issue the documentary earlier this year, but delayed its release
until after the picture had toured cinema houses
The current screening schedule for the Radiohead's
"Meeting People Is Easy:"
4/30 - 5/6 - Boston, MA @ Brattle Theater 5/7 - 5/8
- Detroit, MI @ Main Art Theater 5/13 - 5/14, 5/16 - Ithaca, NY @ Cornell
Cinema 6/11 - 6/12 - Seattle, WA @ Egyptian Theater -------
Radiohead Documentary Gets A Release Date
The much anticipated Radiohead tour documentary "Meeting
People Is Easy" finally has a release date. The movie is scheduled for
distribution on home video in the U.K. November 16 of this year, and in
the States on January 26, 1999, according to Capitol Records.
The film will most likely make its debut at the CMJ
Filmfest (part of the giant annual college music conference) in New York
the first week in November, according to sources in England. A spokesperson
for the festival told MTV News that the organization was hoping to include
the film but cautioned that while it was likely, it wasn't a done deal.
The 94-minute production was shot by Grant Gee, the
man behind Radiohead's "No Surprises" video, and features "a view from
the inside looking out." The footage was taped over the past year and includes
the band's performances in Barcelona, Paris, New York and Tokyo. The film
mostly concentrates on conveying the strange life of a rock group on the
road with the reoccurring theme reportedly being the vast numbers of people
the band meets over the course of their travels.
Fans will also apparently get a glimpse of the beginnings
of new material slated for the next Radiohead album. On that topic, the
group has said that while they intend to begin recording the album next
month, they also intend to proceed at a leisurely pace.
One Radiohead-related film that will be airing at
the CMJ festival for sure is "Velvet Goldmine." That flick features Thom
Yorke and Johnny Greenwood teaming up with Andy MacKay of Roxy Music and
Bernard Butler, Clune, Paul Kimble under the name The Venus In Furs for
a number of songs on the movie's soundtrack. (MTV)
Radiohead
Film Focuses On Dark Side Of Rock Spotlight
Documentary chronicling band's 1997-98 world tour
paints austere picture of fame.
Contributing Editor Teri vanHorn reports:
Just a few minutes into the Radiohead documentary
"Meeting People Is Easy," bandleader Thom Yorke is shown onstage at the
1997 Glastonbury Festival in England asking that the house lights be turned
on.
The black-and-white imagery suddenly brightens to
reveal a sea of 100,000 fans -- some holding lighters, most cheering.
This brief clip in Grant Gee's film documenting the
English band's 1997-98 world tour is one of only a couple of moments in
the film that suggest the glory of being in a rock band.
"Everything after [Glastonbury] has been a letdown,"
Yorke says later in the film. Describing his view of the crowd from the
stage that night, he adds, "I've never felt like that, it wasn't a human
feeling."
After watching "Meeting People Is Easy," you can
see why Yorke would so clearly remember that moment of looking out into
a brightly lit, adoring crowd. As the camera follows Radiohead around the
world through their OK Computer tour, it zeroes in on the daily grind and
grueling routine that rock success is rooted in.
Filmed when Radiohead were at a career peak, Gee's
travelogue takes aim at the flip side of the rock 'n' roll life. It focuses
primarily on the nitty-gritty of being a successful band -- the endless
barrage of promotional appearances, interviews and photo sessions between
performances and the sameness of the settings, from hotels to airports
to roadways, that the band encounters as it moves from country to country.
"The production line of celebrity is very weird,
the job of being a celebrity," Gee reflected. "I just want to have people
say, 'Why do people do that?' Why does popular music have to be involved
in that world?' And, 'If it were you, how would you deal with it?' "
Gee initially was hired to spend one week with Radiohead
when OK Computer was released in 1997. Media outlets from throughout the
world had gathered in Barcelona, Spain, where the band was doing promotion
for the album (which eventually went multiplatinum). Gee was recruited
to follow the band through its packed press days, but he hadn't planned
how the footage would be used.
"It was the most insane thing I have ever seen --
cameras, microphones, everything pointed at you, journalists shouting,
'Love it! Love it! The record's astonishing! Tell us about it!' " Gee said
of his first days with Radiohead.
The filmmaker was so struck by the media whirlwind
surrounding the band that he wrote a proposal pitching the basic idea of
"Meeting People Is Easy."
"The band's been [out of] the spotlight for a long
time, and they're very shy, regular chaps anyway," Gee said. "And suddenly
they come out with a new record and there's just a mass of people waiting
there going, 'Tell us, tell us, tell us,' taking pictures, interpreting
everything they say, all coming with their own opinions, all trying to
find their own angle. And it's like this band, they're really regular guys.
I just thought, what's going to happen if they keep doing this for a year?"
Helped by having "got on well with the band," Gee
said, his proposal was approved, and he joined Radiohead for the tour.
He also shot their video for "No Surprises" (RealAudio excerpt) a few months
into the outing.
While "Meeting People Is Easy" tends to emphasize
the dark side -- or simply the banality -- of fame, Gee develops that theme
without neglecting the heart of Radiohead: their music. The film provides
generous performance footage as well as extended clips of sound checks
and in-studio sessions. Fragments of six new songs -- all of which follow
in Radiohead's moody, textured rock style -- are included, as are such
previously released songs as "Airbag," "Paranoid Android" and "Exit Music"
(RealAudio excerpt), which appropriately closes the film.
In interviews throughout the documentary, the members
of Radiohead -- Yorke, guitarists Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood, bassist
Colin Greenwood and drummer Phil Selway -- contend with the massive success
of OK Computer and with suggestions they've reached perfection with the
album. In one of the film's most compelling moments, Yorke tells an Australian
interviewer, "It's a supply-and-demand thing. It's like, 'Well, this is
what they want me to do, this is what they want to hear, so I'll do more
of this, because it's great, they love me.'
"It's the demise of so many recording artists," Yorke
goes on, "because soon people start giving you cash and you're making money
and you don't want to take any more risks because you've gotten used to
this lifestyle and they've got you by the balls. You've got all this baggage
and that's how they've got you."
On a few occasions during the tour, Gee took a few
days to edit some footage to update the band on his progress and direction
with the film. Though he said the band was pleased with those raw edits,
Gee admitted he's not sure how they feel about the film now, in retrospect.
"I keep thinking these days, they're probably wishing
they hadn't let me do it," he said. "Just like anyone, you don't want to
constantly be reminded of what you've been doing for the past year, so
when it came to the final, they kind of watched it through once and said,
'Yeah, fine, bye.' "
"Meeting People Is Easy," released through EMI Music
Distribution, will premiere this week at the South By Southwest music industry
conference before showings at campuses and theaters in Los Angeles, San
Francisco, New York and Chicago. It will be released on DVD and home video
May 4.
[ Mon., March 15, 1999 3:03 AM EST ] Sonicnet
Capitol Makes Radiohead Film Debut DVD
U.S. Premiere at SXSW and In-Theater Screenings
Prep May 4th Home Release
Already known as trail blazers for their influential
albums and music videos, Radiohead will break new ground on May 4th when
their behind-the-scenes film "Meeting People Is Easy" becomes Capitol Records'
first simultaneous DVD and home video release and consequently, the first
DVD title distributed by EMI Music Distribution (EMD). Filmmaker Grant
Gee, who also directed Radiohead's "No Surprises" video, shadowed the band
for almost an entire year, chronicling the whirlwind of activity around
the release of the band's Grammy-winning album OK Computer. Gee captures
the parade of promotional appearances, interviews, live performances, travel
and occasional downtime that is life on the road. In addition to previously
unseen live footage, the film also previews the beginnings of songs in
progress.
Get the rest of the release here.
Seventh Art is organizing several showings of meeting
people is easy in 5 u.s. cities. they have given us 10 pairs of tickets
to the los angeles march 22 showing and 10 pairs of tickets to the new
york march 30 showing. enter to win tickets here. otherwise, you can buy
tickets in advance for these two shows (see phone number below), you can
get tickets at sxsw for the austin show (your sxsw badge will also let
you in), or at the theater box office (if not sold out) for all shows.
See show info below.
http://hollywoodandvine.com/radiohead/meetingpeople
los angeles monday, march 22 egyptian theater 7pm
for info. call 323.658.8700 or win.
friday & saturday, march 26, 27 midnight shows
laemmle sunset 5
week of march 29 ucla and uc irvine campus screenings
san francisco friday, april 9 roxie cinema 7pm, 9pm,
11pm
saturday, april 10 midnight show roxie cinema
week of april 12 uc berkeley and uc davis campus
screenings
austin - sxsw film festival saturday, march 20 5:45
pm convention center theater (Grant Gee will be available for questions)
new york tuesday, march 30 life 7pm for info. call
323.658.8700 or win.
friday & saturday, april 2, 3 midnight shows
angelika film center
week of april 5 nyu and columbia campus screenings
chicago thursday, april 15 music box theatre 7pm
friday & saturday, april 16,17 midnight show
music box theatre
week of april 19 campus screenings tba(Capitol)
http://www.radiohead.com/easy
Si quieres ver un poco de meeting...pincha la
direccion de arriba.
Les Inrockuptibles (#186 du 17 au 23 février
99) :
RADIOHEAD comme vous ne l'avez jamais vu : tel devait
être le propos éclairant et engageant de Meeting people is
easy, film-documentaire consacré au groupe anglais à l'occasion
de sa tournée mondiale de 1997. A l'arrivée, le film de Grant
Gee (sortie française en vidéo le 3 mars) est à la
fois en deça et au delà de ce qu'on pouvait espérer.
Oeuvre artistique à part entière, cette collection d'images
ramenée d'Espagne, des Etats-Unis, de France, d'Allemagne et du
Japon devrait décevoir les mélomanes les plus exigeants pas
un seul titre joué dans son intégralité, un son très
approximatif tout en enchantant les férus de l'univers claustrophobe
et souvent paranoïaque du chanteur Thom Yorke. Images tremblées,
textes en sur-impression et ambiances oppressantes : Grant Gee, pour qui
il s'agit d'une grande première dans l'univers du rock, s'est manifestement
laissé envoûter par le charme inquiet et inquiétant
des auteurs de OK computer. Alors que le film paraît en France, Radiohead
vient d'annoncer qu'il faudrait patienter de longs mois avant d'entendre
le moindre enregistrement inédit - une notification qui met un terme
aux rumeurs plus ou moins souterraines de sortie prochaine d'un nouvel
album.
THOM YORKE has admitted that he is bored of 'OK
Computer' and that fame is "bollocks".
The confession appears at the end of the new Radiohead
movie, 'Meeting People Is Easy' which was premiered last night in London's
West End Cinema, the Metro. Thom Yorke also says that "everything after
Glastonbury (1997) was a disappointment".
NME interviewed director Grant Gee after seeing the
film, a dazzling collision of treated film stocks which follows the band
on tour in the year after the release of 'OK Computer'. The film, released
on video on Monday, details the dibilitating effects of mass adulation
and a harrowing work schedule on Radiohead.
Reflecting the album's themes of distancing through
technology, its highlight include preview of songs in progress, Thom Yorke
in abject boredom at an American show as the crowd sing 'Creep' and Colin
Greenwood squirming and spologising as he admits to succumbing to the pressures
of fame whilst talking to NME's Ted Kessler.
"It's basically a film put together of a thousand
bits," says Grant Gee. "I don't watch much music television. The only rock
films I like are the (Bob Dylan documentary) 'Don't Look Back', 'Cocksucker
Blues' (unreleased Rolling Stones film) and REM's 'Tourfilm'."
Although he was present at the premiere he didn't
actually watch the screening: "The last time I went to a premiere of mine
I felt so sick I almost passed out.">>
* Et enfin la revue de "Meeting..." de select que
je t'avais promise : <<Select / * 16 Novembre : Radiohead tour video
released - Stop envying the life of rock stars once and for all by watching
Radiohead's torturous promotional duties for "OK Computer" captured on
film in "Meeting people is easy". Directed by grant Gee, responsible for
the "No surprises" video, "Meeting people..." follows the band at their
headline show at Glastonbury '97 and throughout tours of Europe, Japan,
Australia ans America, minutely detailing the less glamourous aspects of
life on the road : endless interviews, interminable travelling and no evidence
whatesoever of excess. Scenes of note include Colin conducting an interview
entirely in French, an American journalist failing to get Thom's jokes
and Ed attempting to console tearful Japanese fans. Educational. - * Radiohead
: Meeting People is Easy - review (4 out of 5) - For a group who always
seem so distanced from the frippery of press and promotion, Radiohead are
alarmingly prone to see their world through the lenses provided by music
magazines. That much is obvious from the opening moments of Grant Gee's
90-minute road film : reviews of "OK Computer" scroll down the screen until
they become no more than meaningless hieroglyphics and, "response sheets"
from editors are briefly and bizarrely paraded. Momentarily, the printed
world is king. - As a device, it sets up the crux of this compelling 90-minute
film's "plot" : five sensitive, worringly humble people fighting to maintain
their sanity while trundling through an 18-month world tour and repeatedly
being told they're the most amazing band on earth. The most recurrent images
are of Thom, Ed or Colin parrying questions from interviewers who seem
to believe they have the answer to life itself. Occasionnally, mind you,
they only have themselves to blame : witness a fractured monologue from
Thom about why the world economy is eating itself. - At times, the mountain
of adoration sits in front of them and they can't find a way round it :
backstage in Japan, Thom tells Ed and Jonny that the hype has become too
much and they should "get out while we're ahead". At others -notably the
"turn the lights on" moment from Glastonbury '97- they manage to forget
all their anxieties and get on with being fantastic. - In among all the
emotional undulations, there are snippets of two untitled songs, and a
beguiling glimpse of the "No surprises" video shoot : Thom nearly drowns,
the world almost ends, and then everyone reverts, naturally enough, to
their seemingly natural sate : being tired and fretting.
NME
Rolling Stone>>
More Surprises
Radiohead preps for record as documentary premiere
approaches
As London's glitterati mull over what they will wear
to the premiere of Radiohead's fly-on-the-wall documentary, Meeting People
Is Easy, which debuts in that capitol city on Nov. 30, the Oxford, England-based
band is making plans to enter a studio to record their fourth album. According
to a spokesperson at their label, the band will enter a studio next month,
after their Dec. 10 appearance at the Amnesty International Conference
at Bercy Stadium in Paris, where they will play along with Alanis Morissette,
Asian Dub Foundation, Tracy Chapman, Peter Gabriel and Youssou N'dour.
According to the label source, the band may again hook up with Nigel Godrich,
the knob-twisting guru best known as the force behind last year's critical
and commercial smash, OK Computer. An industry insider notes that the proper
Mr. G. is champing at the bit to get back in the studio with these civilized
blokes. He spent a good chunk of last year in the wilds of California manning
the boards for Mutations, Beck's recent release.
No word whether the band will be on hand for the
Meeting People Is Easy premiere, but it's likely that Grant Gee (who directed
their "No Surprises" video) will be there. After all, he did spend the
better part of a year with Radiohead looking at life through the band's
eyes during the tour for OK Computer, as well as filming performances in
Barcelona, Paris, New York and Tokyo. Insiders claim that Gee even managed
to capture the nascent stirrings of some of the songs that Thom Yorke and
the guys have written for the new album.
Speaking of new songs, guitarist Ed O'Brien confided
to reporters this fall that "I Promise," and "True Love Waits," two of
their unreleased songs that the band routinely play for sound checks, and
"Motion Picture Soundtrack," which has appeared as a final encore in the
past, could end up on the new album. Furthermore, O'Brien told NME that
the band had already worked on some stuff in the back of their tour bus
while they were on the road for the last album.
There are no tour plans even penciled in for Radiohead
next year, and Capitol Records tells us that they don't expect to have
the album in their hands until next October. As for the documentary's Stateside
availability, Capitol says that Yanks will be able to pick up a personal
copy of the ninety-four minute video on Jan. 26.
JAAN UHELSZKI (November 18, 1998)
.Radiohead Documentary Gets A Release Date
Radiohead's Thom Yorke
The much anticipated Radiohead tour documentary
"Meeting People Is Easy" finally has a release date. The movie is scheduled
for distribution on home video in the U.K. November 16 of this year, and
in the States on January 26, 1999, according to Capitol Records.
The film will most likely make its debut at the
CMJ Filmfest (part of the giant annual college music conference) in New
York the first week in November, according to sources in England. A spokesperson
for the festival told MTV News that the organization was hoping to include
the film but cautioned that while it was likely, it wasn't a done deal.
The 94-minute production was shot by Grant Gee,
the man behind Radiohead's "No Surprises" video, and features "a view from
the inside looking out." The footage was taped over the past year and includes
the band's performances in Barcelona, Paris, New York and Tokyo. The film
mostly concentrates on conveying the strange life of a rock group on the
road with the reoccurring theme reportedly being the vast numbers of people
the band meets over the course of their travels.
Fans will also apparently get a glimpse of the
beginnings of new material slated for the next Radiohead album. On that
topic, the group has said that while they intend to begin recording the
album next month, they also intend to proceed at a leisurely pace.
+++++
Since hitting it big, Radiohead has learned to make
friends and play nice with others.
Sometime this fall, the Oxford, England-based quintet
hopes to release Meeting People is Easy, an art-house movie chronicling
the band's rise to stardom after the release of their critically acclaimed
1997 release, OK Computer.
Director Grant Gee began following the space rockers
during a media blitz in Barcelona, Spain, in the spring of last year and
didn't stop shooting until the band exited the stage at Radio City Music
Hall in New York on April 17, 1998. Now, Gee and the band -- who has the
final say on what appears in the video -- have the arduous task of sifting
through the footage.
"They have hours of footage," a spokesman for Radiohead
told JAMTV on Wednesday. "It's not really a straight-ahead rockumentary,
but more of an art-house movie that documents a period in their life."
The band will likely release Meeting People is Easy,
which was filmed on Super 8 and digital video, both in the United States
and England in time for the Christmas rush. Their spokesman said they're
hoping small, artsy movie houses will show the film, which will also be
available on videotape.
Presently, the band is "rediscovering real life and
will begin working on a new album in early 1999," their spokesman said.
(Ari Benderski Jam tv)
RADIOHEAD TACKLE TOUR MOVIE EDITING
RADIOHEAD's 'on the road' documentary is to be called
Meeting People Is Easy.
As previously reported on NME.com, the documentary
was filmed over the past year, with 'No Surprises' video director Grant
Gee tracking Radiohead as they toured the world in support of 'OK Computer'.
No release date for the movie has been set yet.
Speaking to NME last week, Ed O'Brien said the film
was now being edited and that a "low-key" premiere was being planned. He
said: "It's coming on really well. We went down last week and saw some
of the rushes. Grant's got about eight hours' worth of stuff and it's got
to be condensed, obviously. It's very honest, but it's not a rockumentary,
that's the last thing we wanted it to be because that would be so Spinal
Tap."
Ed said the main thrust of the film was to convey
the strange life of a rock group on the road, so they gave the director
free rein. "I mean, you make a record within the confines of the five of
you, and whoever else, then after that, you go out and tour this record
and that's when it gets bizarre, then it's the rock'n'roll circus thing.
It's not normality and it's not real. It's his slant on that and I think
it's going to be quite interesting."
Ed scotched widespread stories there would be a new
Radiohead album before the end of this year, although he admitted that
they have been recording in the back of the tourbus while they toured the
last album.
He said: "We demoed stuff and things like that. But
basically, I think an album has to be recorded over a certain period of
time. So we'll start work on it properly in November."(NME)
For Canadians, a small consolation for the lack of
a new album - and to help with the wait for 'Meeting People Is Easy' -
can be found in the recent release of the 'Airbag/How am I driving?' single
and 'Seven Television Commercials' home video collection(JAM)
DOCUMENTARY
...followed this summer by a documentary (working
title: Meeting People Is Easy) by British filmmaker Grant Gee. The band's
initial plan to make videos for each song on OK Computer "ran out of time
and money."
"He's filmed hundreds and hundreds of hours of stuff,"
says Greenwood of Gee. "But it's good because, so far, there's no commentary
on it. There's no speaking really. There's not much story behind it. You
know the film 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould? That was kind of a reference
point." J.Greenwood (Jam music)
.DOCUMENTARY
RADIOHEAD are releasing a fly-on-the wall documentary
later this year charting their 'OK Computer' world tour. The documentary
is being made by 'No Surprises' video-maker Grant Gee and will be premiered
on UK television before hitting the stores on longform video. Ed O'Brien
explained: "We didn't want a 'rockumentary', a warts'n'all type thing that
Spinal Tap sends up completely and is brilliant for. Grant's been shooting
us since we started promotion on the album in Barcelona. He's got some
really good stuff."(NME)
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