Meat Loaf: In Search of Paradise (2007)

User Rating:

7.8/10   

Director:

Bruce David Klein

Writer:

Bruce David Klein (writer)

Release Date:

18 July 2008 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Music

Tagline:

If you think you know him... Think again.

Plot:

Meat Loaf, the legendary rocker, reveals surprising shades of himself -- and his internal demons -- as he sets out on an ambitious world tour.

Plot Keywords:

Singer | Rock Music | Musician | Rock 'n' Roll | Independent Film

Cast

Meat Loaf	...	Himself
Kasim Sulton	...	Himself - Music Director and Bass Player
John Miceli	...	Himself - Drums
Mark Alexander	...	Himself - Piano and Keyboards
Paul Crook	...	Himself - Co-Lead Guitar
Randy Flowers	...	Himself - Co-Lead Guitar
Carolyn Coletti	...	Herself - Singer (as Carolyn 'CC' Coletti)
Aspen Miller	...	Herself - Featured Singer
David Luther	...	Himself - Saxophone and Keyboards
Bill Barclay	...	Himself - Tour Manager
Randy Brown	...	Himself - Crew (as William 'Randy' Brown)
Wayne Bukovinsky	...	Himself - Crew (as Wayne 'Wayno' Bukovinsky)
Grady Champion	...	Himself - Crew
Tim Coakley	...	Himself - Crew (as Tim 'TC' Coakley)
Don Gordon	...	Himself - Crew (as Don 'Donny' Gordon)

Runtime:

88 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Greece:K

Company:

Atlas Media

Soundtrack:

Seize The Night

Great if you're not a die hard fan

When I heard about the documentary I was really excited. As a big Meat Loaf fan I really wanted to see this in depth look of him. Before I watched this I was already aware of the dedication Meat puts in his shows. And although they aren't all good he always seems to give his very best. So I wondered what I would get to see what I didn't already know about Meat. The answer: nothing.

Does that mean that this documentary sucks? No and yes really. No because the things we get to see are almost heartbreaking. We get to see many faces of Meat loaf. We get to see his 'larger than life' persona, almost broken, lying on the floor after a show. We see him being annoyed about the media about his act with Aspen Miller (Meat being 60 and Aspen looking like a 14 yr old did cause a lot of controversy in the press and by fans), we hear his band talk about him and we get to see how they go along together.

So a lot of backstage excitement you'd think. But not really because it doesn't really add anything to Meat Loaf from a fan's point of view. In fact at the beginning the crew of the documentary claim they are allowed to film anything for a certain amount of time but during the movie you realize that this was never the case. The direction always has been completely in the hands of Meat himself and we are only allowed to see what Mr. Loaf wants us to see. Nothing more nothing less. An that makes this documentary almost a waste of time. Whenever things start to get really interesting we get cut off so you almost wonder why it was made.

In the end it's hard for me to believe that the makers are happy with their product. Because it hardly is their product. It's Meat Loaf's propaganda movie showing how dedicated he is. At the beginning of the film it's obvious this wasn't the intention of the film crew but when it's all set and done the audience knows the director already lost charge after 10 minutes of filming.

So in conclusion you can say it's a good documentary for people who are not that familiar with Meat Loaf. You get to see a dedicated older rock star trying his best. As a Die Hard fan you learn nothing. From the reactions he leaves on the fan forum we know he is kind of a spoiled brat when it comes to criticism and thus the documentary was nothing more than an open door to us.

In Search For Paradise is included as the bonus disc on the recent Live DVD from the 3 Bats tour.