``Back Almost Famous'' A music journalist at just 15 years old. Film director Cameron Crowe's gem of an autobiographical film

Who is the legendary rock critic Lester Bangs, whom Crow looks up to as his mentor?

On the other hand, in ``Almost Famous,'' in addition to the names of real bands, several real people appear as characters using their real names. The aforementioned Rolling Stone magazine's Ben von Torres is one of them, but the person who has the greatest respect and homage is legendary rock critic Lester Bangs. He is played by the famous actor Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Lester Bangs is from San Diego, same as Cameron Crowe. In the movie, Bangs, who happens to be returning home, appears for the first time in a scene where he appears on a local radio station. William, a boy who is a fan of his, is watching from the street. Bangs' ferocious talk overwhelms the DJ in the booth with his machine gun talk.

"(Pulling out their 1970 album ' Morrison Hotel ' from the record shelf) Jim Morrison from the Doors? He's a drunk who's a popular poet. Compared to that, the Guess Who are gutsy. .Oh, it's Iggy Pop! That's awesome! Okay, let's play this one.'' Then, I put Iggy and the Stooges' masterpiece ``Raw Power'' (1973) on the player, and the killer tune ``Search & Destroy'' rang out with a roar.

Lester Bangs, a pioneer in rock journalism, was born in 1948. What Bangs disliked more than anything was the industrialization and commercialism of rock, which was supposed to be radicalizing itself as a counterculture, as he attacked famous musicians who were generally deified.

While attending Grossmont College in the suburbs of his hometown, he started contributing to Rolling Stone magazine in 1969, but his radical tone eventually became problematic and he was fired. Bangs, who was deeply concerned about the state of rock music being swallowed up by a larger and larger system, placed his hope in the free-form garage rock scene of Detroit, where The Stooges were located, and remained based there for a while. His activities centered on ``Cream'' magazine. During this period, Bangs first wrote about the term ``punk rock'' in an article, and the term ``heavy metal'' was also used by Bangs as a quote from William S. Burroughs' novel ` `The Soft Machine '' (1961). It is said that it started.

How great! However, compared to his talent and accomplishments, it can be said that his life and career were rather unfortunate.

William, 15-year-old Cameron Crowe, met Bangs when he was hired by Rolling Stone and was living in Detroit as the editor-in-chief of Cream magazine. This movie, ``When I Was Almost Famous'', subtly depicts the loneliness of Bangs, who enthusiastically proclaims his opinions and theories, such as ``Be honest and strict,'' but is pushed aside because of his sincerity. It is depicted (at the same time, poignantly).

Bangs actually died in 1982 at the age of 33 from an overdose of cough medicine. Also, actor Philip Seymour Hoffman died of a drug overdose in his apartment in 2014 at the age of 46. In this casting, perhaps Cameron Crowe saw shades of Bangs in Hoffman himself. Although he doesn't appear in many roles, there is no doubt that the power of realistic acting, in which Hoffman is deeply synchronized with Bangs' soul, is a decisive factor in what makes ``When I Almost Famous'' an exceptional masterpiece.

Judging from the extent to which he is treated in this film, Lester Bangs will surely be Lester Bangs' eternal ``mental mentor'' for Cameron Crowe, who has no training as an assistant director or at film school. For example, in the interview with Andrew Pulver for the aforementioned Script Book, Crowe responded to the question, ``How did you make the transition from music and journalism to film?''

"What I love most is music. In every sense of the word, making a movie is a process of sitting in a dark room with all kinds of records and choosing the music that fits the movie. I never wanted to study or go to film school, but...I started interviewing actors and became interested in film.''

In 1979, at the age of 22, Cameron Crowe actually sneaked into a high school and pretended to be a student in order to "cover" the high school life that he was unable to fully experience because he skipped a grade. ``Hai'' was published. His film career began when he wrote the screenplay for the film adaptation (1982, directed by Amy Heckerling).

In music-related films, he also directed the Pearl Jam documentary film ``Pearl Jam Twenty'' (2011), a connection from his directorial film ``Singles'' (1992), which was set in Seattle during the heyday of grunge. In addition, Crowe has written a long interview with Billy Wilder, a famous director of Hollywood's golden age whose films include ``Some Like It Hot'' (1959) and ``I'll Lend You the Key to Your Apartment'' (1960), in his later years. “What would Wilder do? ' (2000/translated by Takaharu Miyamoto/published by Kinema Junposha) is also one of his important works. This is a moving document of how Wilder, who was known for hating interviews, gradually opened up to Crowe, a loyal listener.

In other words, the origins of filmmaker Cameron Crowe lie in the ``back then'' when he spent time as a music journalist. The spirit of Lester Banks probably lives in his heart, and he continues to advise him, ``Be honest and tough,'' as he would a 15-year-old apprentice boy, with loving venom.

Text: Naoto Mori

Film critic, writer. Born in Wakayama in 1971. He is the author of ``Cinema Garage: Children in the Ruins'' (Film Art Publishing), and edited ``Movies of the Zero Years+'' (Kawade Shobo Shinsha), among others. He regularly writes for magazines such as Weekly Bunshun, Asahi Shimbun, TV Bros., Men's Nonno, Kinema Junpo, Eiga Hiho, and Cinema Today.

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