Rent Ladies and Gentlemen: Mr Leonard Cohen (1965)
3.6 of 5 from 49 ratings
1h 5min
- General info
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- Synopsis:
This jazzy 1965 black and white film portrait catches the imaginative energies, lyrical and comical, of a young Leonard Cohen, the quicksilver poet, novelist and songwriter. Arguably the first and last post war romantic writer - as the voice of the questing, hedonistic pre-feminist sixties. On the verge of a pop stardom that would blur the boundary between song and poem, Cohen here intimately reveals the sources for his jewelled imagery of violence, yearning, despair and sexuality. Leonard Cohen went to McGill University, where at 17 he formed a country and western trio called the Buckskin Boys, however it was his poetry that made him the darling of the local bohemian literary underground scene. His first collection of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in 1956. The Spice Box of Earth (1961), his second collection, catapulted Cohen to international recognition. Cohen travelled throughout Europe and eventually settled on the Greek island of Hydra, where he shared his life with Marianne Jenson, and her son Axel and he wrote another collection of poetry, the controversial Flowers For Hitler (1964); and two highly acclaimed novels, The Favorite Game (1963), his portrait of the artist as a young Jew in Montreal, and Beautiful Losers (1966), described on its dust jacket as "a disagreeable religious epic of incomparable beauty" But Cohen's restless spirit couldn't be contained! And within 2 years of filming this programme, Cohen returned to America, intent on settling near Nashville and pursuing a musical career that was championed by Judy Collins, who recorded both "Suzanne" and "Dress Rehearsal Rag" on her 1966 album, In My Life. In 1967, Cohen appeared at the Newport Folk Festival, by Christmas Columbia Records had released his first album, The Sonqs of Leonard Cohen and the rest is history. - Actors:
- Leonard Cohen, Donald Brittain, Robert Hirschhorn, Irving Layton, Derek May, Mort Rosengarten
- Directors:
- Donald Brittain
- Studio:
- Quantum Leap
- Genres:
- Documentary, Music & Musicals
