Mississippi Blues

Tavernier, in pursuit of some Southland of the mind constructed from bits of Faulkner, Minnelli and Nick Ray, joins up with Parrish, whose own agenda has more to do with re-experiencing and communicating the flavour of his 1920s Georgia boyhood. Inevitably friction ensued, traces of which we are allowed to glimpse, but the fascinatingly lopsided result of the collaboration is really three overlapping movies, Parrish's, Tavernier's and the inadvertent one that emerges out of the obdurate individuality of the various interviewees. Those with low tolerance for gospel/blues should be aware that an awful lot of it goes on here - although we do get to see the director of Saddle the Wind sing 'Shall We Gather at the River', if that's your idea of a collector's item.