- Starring
- Barry Gibb, Andy Gibb, Robin Gibb, Maurice Gibb
- Director
- Frank Marshall
- Rating
- n/a
- Running Time
- 111 minutes
- Release Date
- December 12th, 2020 (HBO)
Overall Score
Rating Summary
This will be one of many reviews during this year’s Mill Valley Film Festival, to keep up with our latest coverage, click here.
We live in a world with very specific criteria – if any band achieves relative success, at any point in their career, they will likely be given the documentary treatment at some point down the line. The form has become quite exhausted, and the really special ones are few and far between. This is largely what makes films like The Bee Gees especially lovely – there is a conscious desire to create something unique here, and The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart is a documentary that must be commended.
One of the things that works particularly well about The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart was its structure. There’s minimal presence of talking heads & interviews recorded for the film specifically, which affords the film a genuine feel. The archival footage that is used is restored beautifully – not to mention the commentary being genuinely interesting. The filmmaker’s decision to bring the deceased members of the group back to life through archival interviews, similar to this year’s Beastie Boys Story, is quite special. The film’s approach to being much more than a biopic, and rather, using the band to tell a larger story about the end of an era, is genius. The third act of the film features a tone shift that makes it feel like something more akin to a thriller, as it recounts the end of disco and the violence that was incited in that transitionary period of the world. This act is essentially the best part of the film, resulting in a much more unique experience.
The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart absolutely should not be dismissed as one of those generic rock-docs that are made only for the fans – because it’s far from it. In fact, the film is a genuinely deep, emotional, fascinating and at times tense recounting of the rise and fall of not only a band – but an entire subculture. Definitely a major surprise!
still courtesy of HBO
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