Harvest Time (Film)

[DianeB]

This is short notice, but tomorrow (December 1, 2022) and on a few later dates, there will be screenings of the documentary footage “Harvest Time — A Film from 1971”, filmed in part on Neil Young’s Broken Arrow ranch during the sessions for Harvest. Check the web site for availability near you.

 

 

 

[DianeB]

This film is a raw, poetic, fascinating glimpse of a young artist at his peak giving voice to a generation coming of age. We see the songs of Harvest take their final forms in the barn on Neil’s ranch, in Quadraphonic Sound Studios in Nashville, with the London Symphony Orchestra at Barking Assembly Hall, and in a New York studio where Stills and Nash add backing vocals.

It seems to be shot in 8 and/or 16mm. The quality of the print is surprisingly good for film from 1971, although it apparently did not get the full digital scrubbing that Peter Jackson could provide the Beatles’ “Get Back”. Of course, it’s the sound that matters, and here it’s gorgeous, in all its imperfections. With the barn sessions, it is like sitting on the milk can next to Neil: the immediacy and intimacy is palpable.

It opens with an introduction by Neil today, noting the 50 years that have passed. We ride in the blue jeep with him and the Stray Gators around the farm. There are glimpses of girlfriend Carrie Snodgress and Louis Avila, of whom he wrote “Old Man”. Mercifully, there is no narration; the story tells itself with the help of discreet name titles to identify the principals. In a sense, this is a soundtrack with the movie fit around it.

As entertainment, it could benefit from some cuts. But as a documentary, it begs for more. It would have been revealing to hear more of the songs in their earlier forms, but we do experience a few early takes. I think we see everybody on the album except James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt. There are some bizarre splices that leave a few seconds of white screen; almost any other kind of cut would have been better.

There are surprises, which I will not spoil, and several laugh-out-loud moments. Prodigious volumes of beer are consumed, and in one sequence, a more potent substance. But the musicians we see at work are totally absorbed in their craft. Considering the dark tone of several songs of the Gold Rush-Harvest era, Neil’s mood throughout the film is thoroughly upbeat. An optimistic, hopeful Neil smiles at the camera, confessing that he doesn’t know where the songs come from.

“He’s a hellacious talent.” Go see him work. The 50th Anniversary box set of Harvest will be available tomorrow (December 2, 2022), and this documentary is included. Running time: 2 hours.