Reeling: Look At What The Light Did Now
Posted on 22. Nov, 2010 by Simon in Film, Music
What’s it like to be Leslie Feist?
The Canadian songstress has catapulted from relative obscurity (the chick my yoga instructor loves) to megastardom (the chick from the iPod commercial my yoga instructor loves) over the course of just one album – and coincidentally she spent the better part of that ascendency filming her experience for posterity.
The result is Look at What the Light Did Now, a documentary about “The Reminder”, Feist’s Grammy nominated third album which garnered both critical and commercial acclaim. From her humble apartment in Toronto where early demos were laid down to sold out arena shows, LAWTLDN is an in-depth look at how a seminal album affects and reflects the artist who created it.
Avoiding any sense of linear narrative, director Anthony Seck and the singer herself aim to offer a holistic glimpse into the artist’s creative process and how it defines Feist.
In this regard the film only moderately succeeds. Pulling back the curtain on The Reminder’s Etsy-esque recording process, we are shown endearing footage from the Parisian recording studio / bohemian slumber party that produced large swaths of the album. Anybody familiar with Feist’s music gets visual confirmation of what they already suspected — the tracks are the product of very organic musical performances, not berthed of inexact science and formulaically produced in the vacuum of a studio.
Handheld bowls of cereal are used as percussive accoutrement; outdoor sessions and analog recorders are common tactics as Feist integrates the creaks and groans of her temporary French abode to create the intimate tones that make “The Reminder” unique.
The audience also goes behind the stage for the making of Feist’s borderline meme-ish music videos (1234, I Feel It All) and her arena tour that featured performance art and musical bombast in equal parts.
While LAWTLDN succeeds at showing us all the interesting things Feist did, however, it really struggles to inform us about who Feist is.
We see the hundreds of iterations of album art and hear 12 band members in a living room cut a song 27 consecutive times – but you can’t help but wonder what was wrong with all the rejected covers? Why was the one take selected?
Shining a light on “The Reminder”, LAWTLDN should be applauded for celebrating the names in Feist’s liner notes – the people who help make us think she is totally cool. The singer obviously has a keen sense of collaboration which is evident in her work’s qualities of instant familiarity and tactility.  What the film doesn’t do however, much like real light, is penetrate the surface.
After presenting this screening at Toronto’s Royal Ontario Museum, Feist herself was around to take questions and be swarmed by adoring fans.
As one witnessed her being engulfed by the masses; a tiny woman gamely signing autographs and posing for pictures amongst a sea of humanity, you can’t help but wonder if the singer’s decision to deflect the spotlight onto those around her and reveal so little of herself in this film might say more than the documentary itself.
