With his wife, Kim, they watch a young Gordon performing “For Loving Me,” one of his early classic songs that was recorded by Ian & Sylvia, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Johnny Cash. We see 80-year-old Lightfoot sitting and peering grudgingly at himself on the television in his black-and-white past, from some 60 years ago. Then we see family pictures, children, ex-wives, and loves roll by. The camera pans to a sketch of Toronto’s Massey Hall, where, it is later shown, Lightfoot will perform later that evening. He turns and opens the door and walks in. Set in the present day on the eve of his 80th year, the songwriter is standing, center-frame in the doorway of his classic mansion home between two traveling chairs at his feet. Lightfoot, at the height of his career, 1970s. His story is there from “Early Morning Rain,” to “The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald.” For Lightfoot, it’s present in his openness and the confessional way of telling his story that his brilliance as a singer-songwriter is clearly revealed. If this were Citizen Kane the first frame would reveal just what Rosebud symbolized. The effectiveness and engaging quality of this documentary also has a lot to do with the absolute openness of Gordon Lightfoot himself, who has dropped all pretense of mystery after several battles with heartbreak and near-death health concerns in recent decades. The film’s success hinges on the visionary cinematic realization, the archival sensibility and cohesive writing skill that directors Martha Keho and Joan Tosoni have infused in this superior documentary. In this film the open book of his life is presented with honesty as well as care allowing a rare glimpse of the angels and demons that drive one artist as he creates an unparalleled body of work. The 2019 documentary, Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, is as revealing as it is entertaining in its portrayal of Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot’s rise from a young promising singer-songwriter to his emergence as a major iconic legacy artist, an international treasure embodied in one man. If done well, we witness the highs and lows of the journey of life. The film’s TVOD release date is set for August 21st.Movies, the authentically good ones, have the ability to reflect the best and the worst in humanity. Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind, a CBC Docs and documentary Channel Original, is presented by Greenwich Entertainment and Insight Productions in association with Canada Media Fund, Slaight Communications, Telefilm Canada and the Rogers Group of Funds through the Theatrical Documentary Program and with the participation of the Canada Media Fund, the Rogers Cable Network Fund and the Rogers Documentary Fund. Interwoven throughout the film are Interviews with multiple generations of Lightfoot fans, in and outside the music industry – from Steve Earle and Sarah McLachlan, to Alec Baldwin and Geddy Lee – as well as behind the scenes stories from members of his longtime band.” According to the press release, the documentary, produced by Insight Productions, “takes audiences from high school auditoriums in straight-laced, small town Ontario in the ‘50s to the coffee houses of Toronto’s Yorkville and NYC’s Greenwich Village in the ’60s, through Gordon’s turbulent, substance-fueled arena shows of the ’70s, and finally to the artist – older, wiser – in present day.
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