Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		3.5
Video		3.5
Audio		4.5
Extras		2.0
Overall		3.5

Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman July 21, 2015

I’ve lived in Portland for most of my adult life, working as a professional musician for all of that time, and have been here long enough that I’ve seen a number of local musicians grasp the brass ring, if only for a moment. In the late seventies keyboard ace Jeff Lorber was being touted as “the next Chick Corea” (an appellation not harmed by the fact Lorber had Corea guest star on one of his early albums). The early eighties saw such acts as Quarterflash and Nu Shooz take the national spotlight, albeit for relatively short periods of time, and later years saw an interesting panoply of musicians attract quite a bit of attention, including folks like Esperanza Spalding, The Decemberists and Pink Martini. (My own former music attorney had played in one of Portland’s first big acts, the 1960s powerhouse The Kingsmen, the group which introduced “Louie, Louie” to scores of teenagers.) As should hopefully be obvious from even this abbreviated list, Portland’s musical life is incredibly diverse, but there seems to be a special place in many people’s hearts for one of Portland’s “quieter” offerings to the national musical discourse, the late singer songwriter Elliott Smith. Smith had been tooling around Portland for years, playing his introspective tunes at any number of smaller venues, before he burst into mainstream prominence when Portlander Gus Van Sant included Smith’s “Miss Misery” in Good Will Hunting, and the song went on to receive an Academy Award nomination, with Smith himself performing it on that year’s Oscarcast. Smith seemed to have been handed his golden ticket to universal acclaim and success, but personal demons repeatedly hampered him, and within just a few years he died in semi-mysterious circumstances which most folks in the know ascribe to suicide even if the coroner’s report was ambiguous.

While Smith’s ascent into the mainstream limelight was perhaps even more precipitous than Kurt Cobain’s (at least in terms of its suddenness), it’s hard not to draw certain parallels between these two iconoclastic musicians. Both had an aura of vulnerability and even a kind of withdrawn ambience, and both were more than obviously disgusted with what they saw as the “star making machinery behind the popular song” (to quote Joni Mitchell). The video interviews with Smith included on Heaven Adores You, especially the ones made in the wake of his appearance on the Academy Awards, are remarkably similar in tone to some that Cobain gave after the overwhelming success of Nevermind and (later) In Utero. The fact that some fans at least engage in a "did he or didn't he" game with regard to each guy's supposed suicide probably only further links the two, however subliminally.

Smith frankly never captured the zeitgeist the way Cobain and Nirvana did, but for his fans and friends, he was a one of a kind musician whose music, while at times laconic and melancholic, spoke directly to the heart in unexpected ways. For such a singular talent, parts of Heaven Adores You are surprisingly traditional, with a more or less chronological accounting of both Smith’s relatively brief life and his output as a singer songwriter. The film ping pongs between the three major cities Smith called home during his life, Portland, Los Angeles and New York City, offering a travelogue of sorts that mirrors some of the themes Smith explored in his tunes.

Producer-director Nickolas Rossi evidently hung out in Portland at one point and became enamored of Smith’s music then, and there’s an undeniable fondness that runs through Heaven Adores You. A number of near tearful talking heads segments points up the fact that many of Smith’s friends and former collaborators still nurse a potent wound when it comes to remembering him. His sister’s reminiscences are therefore surprisingly somewhat less emotionally redolent, but still insightful into Smith’s at times dysfunctional upbringing.

While the data points are interesting enough (if hardly revelatory), what may interest most Smith fans in Heaven Adores You is the veritable treasure trove of previously unreleased tracks Rossi, working with Smith friend Kevin Moyer, was unable to unearth in various studio vaults for the project. For those who only knew of Smith courtesy of Good Will Hunting and “Miss Misery,” the full range of his material that’s on display here may indeed be at least a little revelatory. Smith was not a one trick pony by any stretch of the imagination.

Despite a probably unavoidable sadness that runs through a lot of Heaven Adores You, there’s a resiliency to a lot of Smith’s music that may strike some as surprising. Though he was obviously deeply troubled, Smith found at least a temporary respite from various demons in his songwriting, and the good news is that he documented so much of his work via recordings. Portland has produced a huge variety of first class musical talent, but Smith remains one of most distinctive voices to ever emerge from the City of Roses.

Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Heaven Adores You is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Eagle Vision (an imprint of Eagle Rock Entertainment) and Universal Music Group with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer (largely) in 1.78:1. There is a rather large variety of source elements at play throughout the documentary, and as should probably be expected, video quality is therefore fairly widely disparate. Some of the old video of Smith is fairly ragged looking, with brief issues like tracking and ghosting attending some of the imagery. Older film is also used occasionally, some of which has a "dupey" quality with quite a bit of fuzziness and grain. The contemporary interview segments look the freshest, as again should be expected, with excellent clarity and detail, and a natural looking palette. Aside from some built in issues with various video sources, there are no problems with image stability.

Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

While the interview segments unsurprisingly don't offer much difference between the LPCM 2.0 and DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks included on Heaven Adores You, when Smith's music starts playing, there's a commendably spacious sweep to the surround track's offering which will probably make it the preferred choice for audiophiles. Smith's music doesn't have the bombastic low end of, say, some of Cobain's stuff with Nirvana, but the surround track offers beautiful breathing room for Smith's more introspective approach. Fidelity is excellent throughout the documentary, effortlessly supporting both the spoken and sung elements.

Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Heaven Adores You - Aaron Espinoza (1080p; 3:30)


• Extended Interviews (1080p; 59:05) include:

  Autumn de Wilde - Shooting Figure 8

  The Song Writing Process

  Elliott Meets Jon Brion

  American Beauty

  Ode on Melancholy

  The Piano Lesson

  These Little Things

  Heatmiser Interview

  Tomorrow Tomorrw

  Elliott's Influence

Elliott Smith: Heaven Adores You Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Portland's musical life is really pretty amazing, as even curmudgeons from La-La Land and/or New York have admitted to me through the years, after they've experienced the huge gamut of styles and talent that play regularly around the city. Smith was probably an unlikely candidate for superstardom from the get go, and that disconnect is evident in both his interviews included on this documentary and his music itself. Smith fans will love the "new" material included here, and those who don't know much about Mister Misery will receive a good generalist overview. Technical merits are very good (video) to excellent (audio), and the supplemental package includes some nice extended interviews. Recommended.