Cinema release
“I Am A Noise” – Joan Baez looks at her life
Joan Baez in a scene from the film “Joan Baez I Am A Noise”. photo
© -/Alamodefilm/dpa
Joan Baez has become an icon on stage. The American woman’s life is characterized by commitment. In a moving documentary she now looks back – also on dark sides.
“I don’t have the voice anymore. I miss it.” This voice has shaped their lives, ensured their success for decades, and probably also wrote a piece of protest history. At the age of now 82 years old Joan Baez review important stations. It’s not a clear look back, there are many shadows crowding between the headlights. The documentary “Joan Baez – I Am A Noise” shows the US singer less as a star, but rather the human being is the focus. It can be seen in German cinemas from December 28th.
The film is preceded by a quote from the Colombian Nobel Prize winner for literature Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014), which Baez also refers to: “Everyone has three lives. The public, the private and the secret…”. The film allows us to look into each of these areas. Not all of it is beautiful, some things remain obscure and are only hinted at. In some scenes, Baez’s face seems to reflect her hesitation, questions, and decisions about what she wants to tell and how. And what not.
A ruthless balance sheet
For “Joan Baez – I Am A Noise”, the three directors Miri Navasky, Karen O’Connor and Maeve O’Boyle made the singer’s farewell tour in 2018 the framework story. The almost two-hour film goes well beyond a concert documentary after 60 years on stage. In interviews, Baez and her sisters Mimi and Pauline in particular provide a deep insight into the family structures, which appear superficially happy and yet very complicated in photos and Super 8 films.
The film becomes an often ruthless assessment of career and private life, therapies and drugs, constant self-doubt, a split personality, depression. The most important relationships also play a role. For example, the still very young Bob Dylan, for whom Baez’s early popularity also served as a vehicle for his own career.
Her voice is still impressive
Baez dances barefoot through Paris, marches with Martin Luther King, sings here, protests there. Aging affects her on her long and successful journey more than she even thought. Like the thing with the voice. She trains with a singing teacher. This succinct Baez voice still sounds impressive. It’s just the vocal muscles that no longer produce clarity and highs as effortlessly as they once did.
The basis for many stories and memories (Baez: “We remember what we want”) was a comprehensive depository in which the parents kept photos, drawings, videos and audio recordings of the family. Baez said he didn’t know the depot and had never been there until the film: “I had no idea about it.”
Baez didn’t miss the premiere of her film during the recent Berlinale in February. After the screening she faces the enthusiastically clapping audience. She briefly thinks about what would have become of her without music and her famous voice. “I don’t know how my life would have developed if I hadn’t sung so early on. I’m happy,” says Baez – and says goodbye with a short singing interlude.
“Joan Baez – I Am A Noise”, USA 2023, 113 minutes, FSK from 12, by Miri Navasky, Maeve O’Boyle, Karen O’Connor, with Joan Baez, Bob Dylan