Western Stars เวสเทิร์น สตาร์ส (2019) [บรรยายไทย]

In “Western Stars,” Bruce’s songwriting goes right back to the aesthetic of Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht: take the darkness and write jaunty tunes about it. In fact, there are moments that I wish Bruce wouldn’t use quite so many major chords. Yet his performance of this song suite has a soulful and gratifying unity. Not all the songs are about love. He’s got some tasty, burned-in-old-wood character portraits in there, like the title track, about a has-been B-movie actor who is beaten down but alive and kicking (“I wake up in the morning, just glad my boots are on”), or “Drive Fast (The Stuntman),” that could have fit right into “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood.” Adding to the nostalgia is a sprinkling of Bruce’s home movies, including a touchingly unguarded closing-credits video of he and Patti on their honeymoon (the bottles of booze on a table hinting, perhaps, at demons to come).

“Western Stars” is set to open on 375 screens on Oct. 25, and it represents something I’d love to see more of: a wide-release concert film featuring an artist from the age of classic pop stardom. Music docs are proliferating like mushrooms these days, but most of them are semi-under the radar. To reach a national audience, they’ve generally got to feature someone like Justin Bieber or Katy Perry. “Western Stars” isn’t a rockin’-out extravaganza; it’s intimate in its embrace. Yet it’s a moving testament to how much Bruce Springsteen has still got it. It’s a concert film you’ll want to experience with others, as a ray of light in the dark.