When You’re Strange (Tom DiCillo, 2009): USA

Reviewed by Jason Patton at the Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara International Film Festival.

On August 2nd, 1968, The Doors were scheduled to play a show with The Who as an opening act. Lead singer Jim Morrison’s limo arrived and it was immediately ambushed by starstruck and love-drunk women, one of which reached through the window and grabbed Morrison in a place you wouldn’t normally grab a stranger. Morrison eventually makes his way into the stadium and walks through the crowd, drawing more and more people towards him with every passing second. It takes only a moment for hundreds of people to surround Morrison, who takes this all in stride.

Johnny Depp, the narrator of Tom DiCillo’s When You’re Strange, poses a question that makes the audience second guess the attention Morrison is receiving: does Morrison really love his audience or does he require this attention to feel normal? When You’re Strange focuses primarily on Morrison and his imminent downfall, while taking a look at The Doors from the day they joined as a band and how his band mates function with as Morrison self-destructs.

Morrison slowly realizes his super-stardom, shown terrifically by DiCillo in one example where Morrison can’t even face his audience at the band’s early shows at the Whiskey A Go Go. Soon enough, The Doors capture the spotlight with the first song guitarist Robby Krieger ever wrote, “Light My Fire,” and Morrison emerges from his nervous cocoon. DiCillo shows us footage of Morrison jumping around the stage, falling to the ground and singing with a fierce passion. By juxtaposing these scenes together, we get the idea something good is changing in The Doors, and something bad is changing in Jim Morrison.

The Doors released 3 albums in their first 2 years, peaking no lower than #3 on the Billboard Hot 100. The band launched into musical royalty, with little idea that it’s front man was due to crash and burn. As the success grows, drummer John Densmore, keyboard player Ray Manzarek and Krieger all begin to focus more and more on the music; they quit taking drugs and are constantly writing new material. Morrison meanwhile was in his own world, tripping acid before big shows and showing up to recording sessions drunk. His band mates struggle to get Morrison to focus and it becomes increasingly difficult to watch Densmore, his old high school friend, walk out of a recording session, nearly giving up.

Mixing old photographs with exclusive footage, DiCillo brilliantly illustrates the rise and fall of Morrison during an incredible time in history for music. DiCillo is objective, never accusing Morrison of his own demise, but also never glorifying him as an icon that did no wrong. We see Morrison at his highest moments (finding a home on stage) and at his lowest (getting convicted of public indecency at a Miami concert). Blended with the best music from The Doors, When You’re Strange takes us on an exhilarating ride that any good music lover will enjoy.