It’s only natural that Martin Scorsese would have made a
Rolling Stones concert film. He was one of the first film directors to employ
rock music on the soundtrack of his films and has continually returned to the
Stones, even using “Gimme Shelter” three times, although it is sort of
ironically absent from Shine a Light.
But also Mick Jagger is a quintessential Scorsese protagonist. Watching him
preen, gyrate, strut, and bounce on stage calls to mind Tom Cruise winning at
pool in The Color of Money, the
explosiveness of De Niro in Mean Streets,
or his unpredictability in Taxi Driver,
and the ferocious energy of Joe Pesci in Goodfellas.
At the risk of sounding grandiose, there’s even a comparison to be made to
Willem Defoe in The Last Temptation of
Christ in Jagger’s ability to lead the crowd in The Beacon Theater, a
historic temple of performance. Archival interview footage even reveals Jagger’s
self doubt prior to performance – feelings that Defoe’s Jesus would find
familiar.
