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New York Doll review
:. Director: Greg Whiteley
:. Genre: Documentary
:. Running Time: 1:17
:. Year: 2005
:. Country: USA
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Marking music history as the band that made the transition between glam and punk and also inaugurated a highly feminized look that would influence plethora of hard rock bands, the New York Dolls remain, to this day, one of these cult acts that fully incarnate the debauchery and provocative imagery of Rock.
After the band split, each member took a different path, some finding success like singer David Johansen, under his mainstream reincarnation as Buster Poindexter, while others fell into musical oblivion. But even more unlikely than Johansen's turn, was bassist Killer Kane's conversion to Mormonism, working as a low-level staffmember in the church's Family History center in Los Angeles.
When the documentary starts, we discover Kane as he takes the bus to go to work everyday, which in LA is a sign of being on the low-end on the social-economical scale. Writer/director Greg Whiteley then offers a quick look at the Dolls' short but flamboyant trajectory, before coming back to Kane, now a modest and discreet man who still dreams about getting back together with the New York Dolls. As the story unfolds, against all odds, we witness the dream turning into reality as singer Morrissey reunites the band for a festival he's organizing in London. This is the strongest moment here, and probably the most surreal. Seeing Kane putting up leather pants and a Victorian shirt is priceless, but when they hit the stage, despite a 30-year hiatus, the absence of some of the original members — including Johnny Thunders —, and the age-difference, it is clear that they haven't lost their musical flare — this was a come-back where both fans and critics agreed it was a success.
Lacking interviews of emblematic figures from the era — including Kane himself —, with a few rare exceptions such as Mick Jones, Chrissie Hynde, Bob Geldoff and Johansen, the film however suffers from a lack of "official" recognition from the music scene, which hurts the credibility of the project and undermines the influence of both Kane and the Dolls in the eye of the audience. Whitely mostly uses old footage, and even the presence of camera-shy Morrissey — which is an event in itself — isn't enough here to truly establish the Dolls as a myth — which they were. New York Doll suffers the comparison with Mayor of the Sunset Strip, where the filmmakers' efforts to get several major rock figures to testify, really succeed in making us understand the influence of Mayor Rodney.
Rather, the director prefers to focus on Kane's Mormon years, both thematically and time wise, serving up abundant interviews of Kane's current co-workers and religious mentors. As a result, New York Doll clearly looks like a biased piece of filmmaking, which might make you uncomfortable, unless you like to go door-to-door to preach about the latter day saints. At the end of the screening at the Los Angeles Film Festival, one of the first questions from the audience was to ask Whiteley if he was a Mormon, to which he answered yes — evidence that the partiality of the filmmaker is omnipresent onscreen.
Kane's loveable personality and the dream-come-true sub-theme make New York Doll worth the watch, but if you're looking for a glimpse at rock history, Whiteley's flawed work will leave you unfulfilled.
Fred Thom
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