Ladies and Gentleman, Mr. Leonard Cohen (1965) is a Canadian-made hagiographic treatment of the writer and singer at around the age of 31. In a stern deep voice a narrator describes in the most straightforward manner imaginable the daily routine of Leonard Cohen, in the same way he might describe the career of Johnny Unitas. The film presents Cohen as a young genius, a wit, a brilliant poet and writer, a stand-up comedian. It is a short documentary, 47 minutes long, directed and written by Cohen’s filmmaker friend, Donald Brittain, who appears in the film with Cohen and other members of his small group of companions. There is little to distinguish this work as a film. But it offers an interesting glimpse into Cohen in the middle 1960s.
Cohen’s demeanor in this documentary is self-conscious and stiff. He reminded me of Dustin Hoffman as Ben in The Graduate and also of the former U. S. poet laureate Robert Pinsky. Cohen seems self-assured and convinced of his genius. He’s aware of the idea of the “con”—the false or at least semi-false persona that he projects as a poet, the image that the film presents of him. This comes out in an interesting scene where Cohen is watching and commenting on a part of the film that shows him sleeping. At first he speaks of the strangeness of watching himself sleep. Then he recognizes that he’s not sleeping at all, that he’s only pretending to sleep, and that therefore there is an element of the “con” in the film. There’s a large element of con in the film.
Mainly this film treats Cohen as a poet and writer. He’s shown strumming the guitar and singing in one brief scene. Otherwise his career as a songwriter and performer is not mentioned at all--in 1965 that career had hardly begun. As a poet, Cohen showed much promise in this film. But it’s easy to listen to him read his poems and to understand how well suited they are for adaptation to music.
Cohen’s poems often appears in poetry anthologies. But since 1965 he has excelled as a lyricist and singer. In that role he has surpassed the reputation and the claims made for him in this film. His deep, ragged, self-absorbed and melancholy voice is a perfect instrument for the delivery of the lyrics he writes. This film was made three years before the release of The Songs of Leonard Cohen, the first of his albums, and already a mature, unique and idiosyncratic expression of his songwriting and singing.
This film is interesting but frustrating. Cohen seems too self-conscious, too smug, too removed from the austere, romantic persona he would project in his albums. He comes across as a child of privilege (despite the claims of his poverty—one photo in the film shows Cohen and his sister standing with the family chauffeur), as an ego, as someone in love with his own image. He was young then. I can forgive him. Besides, maybe in 1965 he would have come across as the ultimate of cool. The film is dated in every way. It was made two years before Don't Look Back, the D. A. Pennebaker documentary about Bob Dylan. There's a remarkable difference between the films--Pennebaker's film still burns. It was an innovative and imaginative achievement. This film about Leonard Cohen doesn't burn at all. Dylan had already made his mark--several marks--in 1967. If Pennebaker meant to claim the label of genius for Dylan, there was reason for him to do so. Cohen's career in 1965 couldn't sustain the claim.
I have never paid much attention to Cohen the person. He has never loomed large in the public imagination. I read his novel Beautiful Losers many years ago, but it did not impress me. His music and his singing have always impressed me. His lyrics come close to poetry. I’ve heard that he lives, or has lived, in a Buddhist monastery. His songs are intensely thoughtful and introspective, filled with menace, wisdom, insight, and intelligence. As a popular singer, he began his career at a relatively late age, when he was well into his thirties. He released his most recent album, Dear Heather, in 2004 at the age of 70. Like Dylan, he continues to do excellent work.
May he live long and continue to write and record his music.
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