The Rolling stones Charlie Is My Darling – Ireland 1965 As The Rolling Stones celebrate their 50th Anniversary as a band, I can’t think of any better tribute to them than “Charlie Is My Darling.” This documentary is an intimate, behind-the-scenes diary of life on the road with the young Rolling Stones featuring the first professionally filmed concert performances of the band’s long and storied touring career, documenting the early frenzy of their fans and the riots their live performances incited. In September of 1965, the Rolling Stones did a quick two-city tour of Ireland on the heels of the success of their latest single, “(I can’t get no) Satisfaction.”

Charlie is My Darling captures the Stones at a point where they had been famous long enough to be accustomed to the chaos that surrounded them, and yet where they are still a bit perplexed by their status. Young Mick Jagger quotes “We’ll probably be around for a year, or a year and a half”.

Inspired by the Beatles “Hard Days Night”, released the previous year, manager Andrew Loog Oldham hired director Peter Whitehead to film some footage. Peter Whitehead shoots the film in lovely grainy black and white. Despite the limits of a skeleton crew, the concerts seem to have been shot fairly elaborately, with at least four camera positions. It since has been digitally restored for a new version by the director Mick Gochanour and the producer Robin Klein.

Charlie is My Darling features an intimate, behind-the-scenes video diary of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Charlie Watts, Brian Wyman and the late Brian Jones. The footage really humanizes the band, giving us a ride on their train, a couch in their riffing sessions, and a front row seat to their very early concerts. Among the classics on their set, was the first live performance of “Satisfaction” ever caught on film. They are many precious interviews, notably the one between Peter Whitehead (PW) and Mick Jagger (MJ):

MJ: “You are not the same person on stage that you are the rest of the time.” PW: “What type of person do you think you are on stage?” MJ: “Don’t really know, I do not really know who I am on stage, it’s really different because you have to treat everybody differently, you have to be very, very, very egotistical, you’re acting, you’re doing an act for them, it is not really you.” PW: “What are you set up to do in your act?” MJ: “Entertain people! Charlie is My Darling features memorizing moments, I just get goose bumps just thinking about the scene where the Stones and manager Andrew Loog Oldham are stuck in a hotel room working out the song that would become “Sitting On A Fence” it’s a fascinating glimpse into their creative process, and seeing Jagger and Richards bust out tipsy cover versions of Elvis, Fats Domino, and, yes, the Beatles, is priceless.

No doubts if you are a Rolling Stones fan you have waited a long, long time to see “Charlie Is My Darling,” which premiered at the New York Film Festival in September 2012 and now showcasing at NXNE. For the rest of us it will remain an exhilarating and exclusive release on the legendary Rolling Stones and a very beautiful film. Highly recommended.

Christophe Chanel