FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed by: Jim Brown. Produced by: Jim Brown, Michael Cohl & William Eigen. Director of Photography: Miguel Armstrong, et al. Edited by: Adam Browne, Paul Petrissans & Samuel D. Pollard. Released by: Seventh Art Releasing. Country of Origin: USA. 90 min. Not Rated. With: Leon Bibb, Theodore Bikel, Arlo Guthrie, Peter, Paul and Mary & The Weavers.
A must-see for folk fans, Isn't This the Time! is Jim Brown's second
film about super-manager Harold Leventhal and his role in the folk scene.
Brown's 1982 documentary The Weavers: Wasn't That a Time! focused on the 1955
Carnegie Hall concert which marked the return of the singing quartet - at
Leventhal's urging - after they had been blacklisted. The new documentary chronicles
Leventhal's 2003 Thanksgiving weekend concert, a tradition he began with the
1955 event. A loving tribute to Leventhal, the 2003 edition was to be his last; he died this
October at age 86.
The film's main talking-head interviewee is Arlo Guthrie, who Leventhal treated
like a son after Guthrie's father, folk legend Woody Guthrie, became incapacitated
by Huntington's chorea. The backstory of each artist is interwoven with the concert, allowing the audience to learn about a musician or group
both musically and personally. The concert itself is filmed beautifully.
The camera pans the Carnegie stage, focusing in on performers in a
way that make them seem as if they fully fill the unadorned stage. The
performances often take priority over the telling of Leventhal's career,
where the focus tends to shift away from him to larger issues, like the
country's political climate.
According to Guthrie, Pete Seeger confided to him that he was worried about
his upcoming performance - his voice is not what it used to be. Guthrie
replied that that was okay - the audience's hearing isn't what it used to be
either. Hearing loss or not, Seeger shouldn't have worried. He sounds
fantastic and even when he forgets
the translation to the song "Guantanamera," he makes up for it in energy. Each
performer, regardless of age, shows a certain amount of vitality. (The
Weavers' Ronny Gilbert and Peter, Paul and Mary's Mary Travers engage in a
pre-concert sword fight with their canes.) Leon Bibb sounds particularly
good. His voice on "Shenandoah" is so gorgeous and clean, one would mistake
him for a much younger man. Molly Eichel |