YEAR OF THE HORSE

If you are a Neil Young or Crazy Horse fan, you will find live performance footage, behind-the-scenes material, interviews, and scrapbook images spanning more than two decades. The band’s musical energy is real, and the film shows that energy still electrifying crowds.

But the documentary spends too much time talking and praising. Director Jim Jarmusch’s admiration for Neil Young becomes the film’s central focus, while the music is too often interrupted by chatter, self-admiration, and overly hyped visual imagery. The movie also contains substantial obscenity and profanity, along with drug abuse and smoking.

This is not a family movie. Discerning adult rock fans may want to watch it at home, where they can control the experience.

This music documentary follows Neil Young and the Crazy Horse band through live performances, earlier footage, interviews, and behind-the-scenes conversations. It looks at the group’s origins, musical style, tours, albums, and continuing popularity.

Band members and Neil Young discuss how they make music, how the group came together, drug use, and even Bible verses. The film also surrounds the music with scrapbook images and sweeping visual sequences.

Two stars means the film has genuine musical energy but is weakened by its execution. The band’s stamina and live performances are compelling, and the music still has the power to enthrall longtime and new fans.

The documentary’s focus, however, is muddled by too much talk and too much adulation. Jarmusch’s praise of Neil Young is ceaseless, the interviews become tiresome, and the visual imagery sometimes overwhelms the music. The movie could have been better with less glory and more music.

The film presents Neil Young and Crazy Horse as extraordinary artists and repeatedly emphasizes the “singular” quality of their music. Its central attitude is admiration: Jarmusch calls Young a legend, while band members praise one another and Young praises the greatness of his music. That admiration becomes idolization, turning the rock star into the documentary’s dominant object of attention.

The film does include a discussion of Bible verses, but the discussion focuses on violent acts of God’s wrath against those who go against His word. It also includes sober conversation about drugs and mentions some adverse effects of drug use. Still, the larger worldview is pagan in its elevation of rock stars and artistic self-adoration.

The film’s longing for powerful music and human creativity is understandable, but those gifts should not become objects of worship. Scripture says, “You shall have no other gods before me” (Exodus 20:3).

Neil Young and Crazy Horse have real musical power, but this documentary buries too much of it beneath chatter, profanity, drug-related content, and relentless adulation. For discerning adult rock fans, WAIT FOR HOME — ADULTS ONLY. For family movie night, choose something else.