Leonard Cohen, director Lian Lunson and U2 lead singer Bono
a seamless tribute/documentary/concert film about the man who first encountered poetry in the Jewish liturgy at his family’s synagogue, and who in the course of a painful life became a monk, left the monastery and is still singing today.
It features extraordinary performances by — among others — Rufus Wainwright (whose rendition of “Hallelujah” is a “translucent prayer”), Nick Cave (in a perfect combination of vocals with body movement), Antony (in a falsetto that starts out strange, grows on you, and leaves you wanting more), and Bono and U2, playing backup to the concluding, haunting psalm:
Well my friends are gone and my hair is gray
I ache in the places where I used to play
And I’m crazy for love, but I’m not coming on.
I’m just paying my rent every day
In the Tower of Song.
A wonderful film.