Few cinematic forms benefitted from the advent of digital technology like the documentary. And not just in cost and access to equipment but in the proliferation of digital archives directors can draw upon. Add social media’s connective power to track down interview subjects and streaming services — more than you will ever be able to keep up with, each with an insatiable need for new content — and the stars have aligned in ways the first century of documentarians couldn’t have possibly imagined.
So what will it take for you to click that button and devote two hours of your life? Star power? Acclaimed filmmakers? Genre innovation? How about a simple tug at the heartstrings with some good old-fashioned nostalgia? If you’ve spent evenings clicking endlessly through your platform of choice, you’ve probably noticed a lot of that. Here are the songs, movies or toys you grew up with, coupled with behind-the-scenes stories you could guess if you tried but don’t need to because there’s a documentary right here and now that’ll explain it to you.
Into that stream slips two new music docs sure to garner your attention: The Beach Boys and Let It Be.
Streaming on Disney+ and directed by Frank Marshall and Thom Zinny, The Beach Boys is the then-to-now story of the mid-century band that went from selling the California Dream one surf song at a time to reinventing and codifying the pop formula while inspiring countless imitators and true believers. Marshall and Zinny lean on the tried-and-true blend of archival footage for excitement, modern-day talking heads interviews for context and a smattering of editing after-effects to make it all feel vintage. Yes, it’s very by-the-numbers, but it’s still interesting to see how a band can build and rebuild its identity.
Now turn to Michael Lindsay-Hogg’s 1970 documentary, Let It Be, also available on Disney+, which captures The Beatles writing and recording the songs for their two final albums: Let It Be and Abbey Road. Lindsay-Hogg probably thought he had a hit on his hands while filming the most popular band in the world, but the hit was not to be. The director’s cameras captured the lads from Liverpool in full-blown divorce mode, and when the movie was initially released in 1970, a few weeks after the break-up went public, the bloom was off the rose.
For years, Let It Be was difficult to see, but thanks to Peter Jackson’s comprehensive documentary, Get Back, set during the same January 1969 recording sessions, Lindsay-Hogg’s footage got a fresh restoration and is now available for all with a Disney+ login.
To borrow a line from Tolstoy: All music docs are alike, but every Beatles music doc is different in its own way. There’s a beauty in the containment of Let It Be: Just one month and a dozen or so songs crammed into 80 minutes of magic. The Beach Boys is significantly more expansive but not nearly as deep. But then you get that twinkling cascade opening of “Wouldn’t It Be Nice” or the heart-swelling organ of “God Only Knows,” and a wave of euphoria washes over you in the way only a pop song can.
But do we really need another doc about The Beach Boys? About The Beatles? Talk about well-mined territory. You could ask the same about any documentary covering the 1960s, one of the most picked-over eras for understanding how we got here while waxing poetically about how things made sense back then. The latter drives this particular brand of nostalgia in The Beach Boys. Everyone — from OneRepublic’s Ryan Tedder to Janelle Monáe (how’s that for a talking head grab-bag?) — loved Beach Boys’ music. Taylor Swift might be able to claim that level of cross-quadrant stardom, but even that feels different.
Everything feels different now. The world feels so fractured these days. Surely it wasn’t always like this? But when were we whole? No wonder we keep returning to a time when people felt connected, even if we weren’t. It helps that these docs focus on the art and not the environment in which the art was conceived. The country was tearing itself apart back then, too. Students were protesting a foreign war they felt was unjust, and talk of who was going to be the next president split families in two. You want nostalgia? You can get that wholesale in the daily news.
ON SCREEN: The Beach Boys and Let It Be are streaming on Disney+.