Reviewing From The Sky Down

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I've watched the doc a couple of times now. I have to say I expected more from Davis. I'm a big fan of "It Might Get Loud" and I expected a lot more info on how certain songs came to be. Specially Lady With The Spinning Head-UV-The Fly.

At times the film feels too "aware" of itself for it's own sake. The "re-imagining" of the songs ads next to nothing to telling the story of how Achtung Baby came to be. There are some new moments we haven't seen, but they're just that... moments, specifically from the pre-AB era.

I was hoping for a more in-depth look at the making of the album. Achtung Baby is such a cohesive album, it tells a story from ZooStation to Love Is Blindness, and I was hoping so much they would tie that narrative into the narrative of the film and the making of the album, but it simply doesn't come through like that.

The closing moments are really great and hopefully someone will take the beginning and the ending of the film and edit them into the Glastonbury performance. That'd be sweet.
 
Official description:

Imagine a neighborhood where every home is a broken family: misery, divorce, or worse. Drive down the street and it's every single home. That's the unfortunate terrain of rock bands. Implosion or explosion is inevitable. U2 has defied the gravitational pull towards destruction. Somehow, it has endured and thrived. The movie From the Sky Down asks the question why.

Stop complaining that the film isn't more about the making of Achtung Baby.
 
I don't know if you're talking directly to me, but I'm not complaining, I like the documentary. It's just not as great as I suspected.

And besides that: I just say what I want.
 
I don't know if you're talking directly to me, but I'm not complaining, I like the documentary. It's just not as great as I suspected.

And besides that: I just say what I want.

No, I'm not specifically talking to you; that just seems to be a common reason that people are disappointed with the movie.
 
No, I'm not specifically talking to you; that just seems to be a common reason that people are disappointed with the movie.
I see, but what's the big deal about people not liking the docu for whatever reasons? Most people here do seem to like it anyway....
 
I see, but what's the big deal about people not liking the docu for whatever reasons? Most people here do seem to like it anyway....

Well, they can dislike it however they choose, but some act like it was false advertising and they were expecting it to be a making-of. I guess I feel like it's unjustified criticism. :shrug: But it's not a big deal or anything.

I'm glad it's not all about how the album was made, because we've already heard that story from Flanagan's and BP Fallon's books and U2 by U2. This is a different look at the situation and I was actually surprised at how much JT era stuff they went into, but it was interesting.
 
Providing this is still a review thread...

I enjoyed FTSD very much. I had neither expected nor wanted it to be a 'making of' kind of a documentary, so there's no reason for me to be disappointed. I love how the mood is developed and how the Glastonbury clips bond it all together. The naew versions of songs (such as Love Is Blindness) are awesome. I'd give it 9/10.
 
I'm glad it's not a "Making of". I think most people who are not die hard fans would be bored by having the band talk them through every single song in detail. There should remain some mystery about the process of songwriting and I'm not really interested in knowing all the details. I like that they focus on the story of the band and on the impact the album had on their personal lives, and vice versa.
 
Saw the film tonight. Enjoyed it, of course. I appreciated how Guggenheim kept the 'talking heads' down to a minimum (early on, it seemed that there weren't going to be any... but then, there were), and I also greatly enjoyed the animated parts.

The focus of such a doc is never going to satisfy all the fans because there are so many different ways to approach it. Basically, I thought they got it about right with a balance between music analysis and human interest.

One thing I'm left wondering -- why did the band/McGuinness sanction this film, now? The one thing I didn't like was how the film led up to the 2011 Glastonbury performance. Yeah, I get the 20-years-later angle, but to me U2 in 2011 is not the way to end a film about U2 in 1989-1992. It almost smelt like a McGuinness-ish advertisement for "U2 At Glastonbury", except there is no such commercial product (is there??).

My only other concern about it is that it seemed to further the band's tendency of self-mythology (this being an aspect of U2 that already turns off a lot of people). The film played out the dramatic aspect of "we were going nowhere" and then "we got somewhere and saved the band" fairly seriously and intensely, which seemed a little overly dramatic for me. Like Rattle & Hum, more disclosure about inter-band problems and personal background would have improved the film (albeit they did very briefly delve into Edge's marriage failure), with, correspondingly, a little less about the drama of "U2", which is really no more or less dramatic than any other famous group.

Certainly the solo Edge rendition of 'Love is Blindness' was incredible. Is this available anywhere in full?
 
One thing I'm left wondering -- why did the band/McGuinness sanction this film, now? The one thing I didn't like was how the film led up to the 2011 Glastonbury performance. Yeah, I get the 20-years-later angle, but to me U2 in 2011 is not the way to end a film about U2 in 1989-1992. It almost smelt like a McGuinness-ish advertisement for "U2 At Glastonbury", except there is no such commercial product (is there??).

There will be a commercial product to which this documentary ties in, it's the Achtung Baby remaster. It's part of the Super and Uber Deluxe versions, so that's the reason to include it.
 
I liked how they put in all those other famous bands that split up...it makes the point of them staying together all the more potent.

How come no Lillywhite appearance in this documentary...he was involved in producing/mixing AB as well. Also, as well as JT remaster booklet, absence of Larry (2011 footage) was notable.
 
Also, as well as JT remaster booklet, absence of Larry (2011 footage) was notable.

He's doing the 2011 interview while driving a Trabant, as a parallel to that infamous scene where he got pulled over by an East German policeman 20 years before.
 
He is, I meant there is no video footage of 2011 Larry (unless I missed something).

The other three all make visual appearances.
 
He is, I meant there is no video footage of 2011 Larry (unless I missed something).

The other three all make visual appearances.

Cos when this was made Larry had left the band and refused to have anything to do with it!
 
He is, I meant there is no video footage of 2011 Larry (unless I missed something).

The other three all make visual appearances.

He's doing the 2011 interview while driving a Trabant, as a parallel to that infamous scene where he got pulled over by an East German policeman 20 years before.

In a video on U2.com Davis Guggenheim said that Larry didn't want to do the standard talking head thingie, hence him driving around in a Trabant and discussing some things. So yeah, there is video footage of 2011 Larry.
 
Guggenheim said Larry didn't want to do a sit-down interview like the others did.

Didn't Larry have a really bad time of it during AB? I think for a while he was feeling frozen out and a little unhappy about the drum machines, etc. Maybe he just doesn't want to talk about all that, because I don't really remember him being particularly camera shy.
 
Didn't Larry have a really bad time of it during AB? I think for a while he was feeling frozen out and a little unhappy about the drum machines, etc. Maybe he just doesn't want to talk about all that, because I don't really remember him being particularly camera shy.

That could be, and maybe he was shy of Guggenheim because he didn't know him that well. The video on U2.com makes it sound like he was willing to talk while driving the Trabant, at least.

U2 > News > Larry in From The Sky Down
 
I was finally able to watch the documentary. I am glad it wasn't a standard "making of" film. It was much more about the turning point U2 had in the early 90's and why they are still here today because of it. The DAT recording of the session where a bridge of Sick Puppy turns into One in a fifteen minute time span was great. It was fascinating to hear Bono and the band come up with the chords and melody in that amount of time. Edge even says as the DAT tape is playing that that moment was such a pivitol moment for the band. I remember in the making of the Joshua Tree DVD where you hear the tape of Bono coming up with the opening lines of Running to Stand Still off the top of his head. It is very interesting to see how the band works in that fashion.
Most die-hard U2 fans knew the story of the Hansa sessions and how it turned around from there. This documentary went into greater detail about that pivitol moment that we heard the band members always talk about such as in the VH1 U2 Legends doc. I enjoyed the part where Bono and Edge are discussing the arrangement for WGRYWH. I also liked the segment where they are recording in the house in Dublin and discussing Larry's drum part for Zoo Station. I'm looking forward to the box set in a few weeks. I think the bonus discs with the outtake songs from Achtung Baby as well as the "baby" versions of the songs will be very interesting. "Down All The Days" is one song I'm especially interested in hearing since it eventually turned into "Numb".
 
I finally got the chance to see this. Great little documentary. I especially enjoyed the insights on how a song is developed. The Bono lyric and melody writing section was fascinating.( He speaks in the tongue of angels LOL.) Hearing One develop was jaw dropping. Literally that piece came from the sky down.

Loved it!! Thought it could have been longer, but they may have not had the propper footage to round it out.
 
My favorite part is when they listen back to a performance of The Fly.
Bono: "Was that actually played to people? People gathered together for the express purpose of music?"
Edge: "It's a special mix Dallas made that accentuates-"
Bono: "Oh, it's certainly special alright."
So funny.
 
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