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Paul Simon’s remarkable career, from poetic troubadour to architect of fusing pop melodies with world rhythms, is ripe for mining.
But documentary filmmaker Alex Gibney I didn’t want to reduce Simon’s achievements to a routine biopic. The goal, he says, was “to create a dreamscape of life both here and in the past. And they live simultaneously.”
The resulting film, “In Restless Dreams: The Music of Paul Simon,” is the result of a five-year odyssey that captures the expanse of Simon’s seven decades in music through archival footage and unlimited access to the Simon current, still vital and creative at 82.
The two-part docuseries airs on MGM+ at 9 EDT/PDT on Sunday and March 24.
This is not the first time Simon’s extraordinary career has been scrutinized. A 2018 biography, “Paul Simon: The Life,” written by renowned music reporter Robert Hilburn with Simon’s full participation, also details Simon’s story.
But in documentary form, seeing the magic of the 1981 Central Park concert when he reunited with Art Garfunkel; Simon’s solo return to that hallowed ground a decade later; the evolution of his landmark 1986 album “Graceland”; and Simon while recording last year’s “Seven Psalms” and battling hearing loss, is telling.
Gibney, who has directed award-winning documentaries about Scientology, Enron and the murder of an Afghan taxi driver, crafted the three-and-a-half-hour project with one of music’s most intoxicating songbooks as its backbone.
“It’s not an information drop,” Gibney says. “It is an emotional experience; of the moment, but full of memories.”
Below are some highlights from the film.
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Bathrooms and elevator shafts shaped Simon & Garfunkel’s hits
Just as the Beatles used unconventional recording methods (reversed guitar solos, double-tracking vocals), Simon and Garfunkel turned to some basic setups and beat-makers for many of their timeless hits.
Producer Roy Halee’s guidance was crucial on songs like “Cecilia,” which features a percussion loop created by banging pots and pans, and “The Boxer,” whose drums were recorded at the bottom of an elevator shaft. (The song’s string section enjoyed a more majestic recording setting: St. Paul’s Chapel at Columbia University.) In “The Only Living Boy in New York,” Simon and Garfunkel went to an echo chamber to record their harmonies.
Even “Mrs. Robinson,” the upbeat song composed for the 1967 film “The Graduate,” has a fun backstory. In a clip from a TV show, Simon recounts how many of the lyrics were made up on the spot once it was determined that the song would be used for a chase scene. Simon recreates the moment while he plays his guitar.
Gibney also points to footage of jam sessions during the recording of “Graceland” in Johannesburg, South Africa, as an indicator of Simon’s ability to create “musical crosscurrents.”
“I wrote in a different way, in the sense that I recorded it and integrated it into a larger vision instead of starting with a guitar and a notebook. “Musically I was coming from a different place,” says Gibney.
Art Garfunkel refused to participate, but he is still heard
Gibney says Garfunkel refused to be interviewed for the film. But Gibney was determined to include your voiceso he relied on archival interview clips with Simon’s former musical partner, who added irrefutable vocal beauty to classics like “Homeward Bound,” “The Boxer” and “The Sound of Silence.”
After the duo broke up in 1970, Garfunkel calls it “an unequal partnership” because Simon wrote all the songs. “We were best friends until ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’… but it started to get abrasive having to be together,” he says in the old footage.
Gibney notes that it was important to him to present both sides of the couple’s relationship, because “it takes two sides to break up.”
Paul Simon’s hearing problems develop in real time
While recording “Seven Psalms,” Simon suddenly suffers a serious hearing problem. He complains that the sound is distorted when he puts on the headphones and is visibly frustrated.
Gibney says watching the issue unfold was “very moving and powerful. “To see one of the great songwriters of all time struggling with a key element of his ability… it was very moving that he let us in while that was happening and he was at a vulnerable stage.”
In the film, Simon is granted some relief through the use of a microphone that focuses on the frequencies.
Simon also accepts the reality of the situation: “Maybe we should have an obstacle to give you an idea of what you’re doing,” he says.
Paul Simon seen by Wynton Marsalis, Edie Brickell
Gibney didn’t want to turn the film into a parade of talking heads embracing Simon’s greatness, but he did seek out observations from a trio of people closest to him: his wife Edie Brickell, fellow musician Wynton Marsalis and the “Saturday Night” impresario Live” Lorne Michaels. , who chose Simon as the first person to host and perform as a musical guest in 1975, the year of its premiere.
In the documentary, Marsalis is greeted with a warm hug from Simon and the pair immediately strike up a deep conversation. Marsalis remembers meeting at a 2002 benefit concert and, a decade later, performing together in the Jazz at Lincoln Center series.
Marsalis also lists a long list of topics the two frequently discuss, including the Bible and mysticism, leaving little doubt that they have more than musical genius in common. “I couldn’t believe he came up with that list in his head,” Gibney says with an incredulous laugh. “You can imagine the conversations they’ve had.”
Gibney also spent time with Simon and Brickell at their compound in Wimberley, Texas.
“He’s a really lovely person,” Gibney says. “She really grounds Paul and she is a great musician in her own right. You can notice this magic in her relationship.”
In the film, Simon, dressed in a flannel shirt and a faded red baseball cap, with glasses hanging from his neck, greets Brickell with “Hello, beautiful.”
Later he offers perhaps the most succinct and thoughtful view of Simon as a man and musician. “Paul has a way of looking at everyday life and making it poetic,” he says. “But that also causes him to be misunderstood.”