SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND EXPERIENCE BY PATTI SMITH

Patti Smith is not just fascinating but she is also really intimate in DREAM OF LIFE. In each scene you can witness her being “a worker, a mother, an artist and a human being“, as she puts forward in her own words. All her pains and joys are caught beautifully by Steven Sebrings’ camera. It’s like a kaleidoscopic experience of Patti Smith herself. She turns into a wild river on the stage, then a mild mother with her children, then a mourning queen in front of the graves of Blake, Rimbaud and her other beloved poets. She is so transparent that the camera goes through her reflecting all the colours and light. Seamless transitions from film to photographs or from photographs to film perfectly suit her journey through the lucky and unlucky accidents of her life. Her songs and poems come and go between innocence and experience. We keep track of her as one of the most important figures of 1970s New York underground. It is not a contrived process. We just sense her rapidly changing life through songs, poems, memories and snapshots so smooth and softly. Her daily life, on the stage or backstage or in her room, give many clues about her essence. Sebrings’ sometimes impulsive but always sophisticated images get more and more in harmony with Patti Smith’s faith in her dream of life. Through the film, she portrays herself as an artist who betrays neither her art nor her ideology. Her activism together with her consistency subtly proves her as a rebel with a cause. Being far away from the usual MTV way of portraying a star, Sebrings is right trusting Patti Smith’s sincerity while following her along the years. Eleven years of filming bears its fruit; the beautiful grainy texture of 16mm film and many spontaneous moments make DREAM OF LIFE one of the best documentaries made about a music icon. Just like Patti Smith deserves.