Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind (2019)

The iconic Canadian musician, Gordon Lightfoot, reflects on his life and career.

Directors:

Martha Kehoe, Joan Tosoni

Writers:

Martha Kehoe, Joan Tosoni

Stars:

Randy Bachman, Alec Baldwin, Tom Cochrane

2 nominations.

Cast

Credited cast:
Randy Bachman	...	Himself
Alec Baldwin	...	Himself
Tom Cochrane	...	Himself
Burton Cummings	...	Himself
Bernie Finkelstein	...	Himself
Gordon Lightfoot	...	Himself
Kim Lightfoot	...	Herself
Anne Murray	...	Herself
Sylvia Tyson	...	Herself
Lenny Waronker	...	Himself

Storyline

In Canada's history, there are few people who signified the nation's modern confidence in its arts more than Gordon Lightfoot. This singer-songwriter's singular talent in music changed the world's opinion of Canada's culture with his tremendous variety of songs that both celebrated the nation and touched its soul. Sparing nothing about Lightfoot's personal weaknesses and failures as well as his triumphs, this film covers Lightfoot's career from his own words and his closest associates with recordings of his greatest hits.

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Plot Keywords:

singer songwriter | singer | folk singer | musician interview | professional musician | 

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Genres:

Documentary | Biography | Music

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Details

Country:

Canada

Language:

English

Release Date:

27 April 2019 (Canada)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

User Reviews

Lightweight Lightfoot, But Still Satisfying

Watching Gordon Lightfoot: If You Could Read My Mind was a pleasant way to spend 90 minutes, but something was lacking. Maybe this had to do with the life and career of this 80-year-old music legend's life being reduced to a mere 90 minutes. I wanted more. My only other complaint: Why feature Alec Baldwin over and over again? The interview snippets of him talking about Gordon Lightfoot puzzled both me and my friend. Alec Baldwin?? "That was the weirdest part of the movie," my friend said. Was it so hard to find relevant people to say insightful things about Gordon and his music that the filmmakers had to go with what I thought were banalities of an irrelevant?

But there are many pluses which include a lot of old footage, and Gordon singing of course. The best running theme of the film for me is Gordon reflecting on things, or just shooting the breeze. His lamentations of causing emotional trauma to the women in his life via his actions and his music juxtapose beautifully with his belief that the male-female dynamic is the single most fascinating force in the universe to him, and with his gorgeous lyrics and soulful crooning. The best moment of the film for me is when the Good Brothers talk about how Gordon can evoke such emotion from seemingly ordinary lines. One of the Goods recites the line "Is the home team still on fire, do they still win all their games, and by the way, did she mention my name", and gets so choked up he can barely finish it. I could so relate.

When it comes right down to it, I and the several other Gordon fans I talked to who have seen this doc love it for the simple fact that it's a doc about Gordon Lightfoot. How could that concept fail. Still, I wish it had been at least 2 hours long. Why edit it to 90 minutes. Make it 2 hours, replace Alec Baldwin talking about Gordon with esteemed musicians and/or esteemed Canadians and/or esteemed Canadian musicians talking about Gordon Lightfoot....10 out of 10 stars.