It's About You
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User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3

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  1. TheDRauch
    Jun 29, 2012
    4
    It's About You, a doc following one of John Mellencamp's tours while he records a new album isn't so much a concert movie (which have been springing up more and more so in recent) as it is a trip across western America. Now I, who had little knowledge of Mellencamp before viewing the film, found the movie's focus to be directed much less on him and more on the grayscale shots of the trip shot through a Super 8 camera, which both makes it distinctive and hurts the documentary. It's About You is mostly not too bad otherwise, save for the narration by Markus. He comes off as humbled by the task before him, but also a bit too self-focused and uninteresting. If he had let the film play out without him, featuring only an opening narration, and focused solely on John, the film would have played out more audience-pleasing. It really shouldn't have been about him.… Expand
  2. osuwkuman
    May 8, 2013
    8
    First you must realize this a documentary. Second, you will probably be watching it because you enjoy John Mellencamp. And finally, you tend to watch rock n roll artists perform live. Well, this movie will help you realize all three in it's relatively short 86 minutes. So here's what makes it "better than the average" rock star documentary. John is so down to earth in life and certainly maintains his own character during the film. He challenges Kurt Markus to film the documentary. Markus had never done a feature film. To make it even more of a challenge, but in the name of simplicity, John wants it on 8mm film and tells Kurt that the film is "All about you." So Kurt hires his 21 hear old son Ian to help him and off we go.

    The journey takes you on tour with Mellencamp as he performs old hits as well as songs from the album, "No Better Than This (2010)". But what makes this movie simply wonderful is not just the music but Kurt Markus's narration. He admits that he has all this photography and audio equipment, but all he wants to do is write. It's his 62 years and mission to please John that he tells a story that allows his word and John's music to enhance the photography instead of the film attempting to enhance the music. It's sincere, passionate, and you feel his chills as they play in historic venues that represent the origins of rock, blues, and Americana. The moments spent at Sun Records in Memphis alone gave me goosebumps when Mellencamp gets excited about standing on the "X" where Elvis stood and recorded. And hearing John get all grumpy in the scene where he and the gang are recording in the same room as Robert Johnson.

    I did two things after watching this movie. I went in and pulled up songs by Robert Johnson and T Bone Burnett just to hear them play. Then the rest of the evening, I just listened to John Mellencamp. In my opinion a good documentary leaves you want to know even more this one earns my 8.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
55 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 11 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 11
  3. Negative: 2 out of 11
  1. Christian Science Monitor
    Reviewed by: Peter Rainer
    Jan 7, 2012
    91
    Despite never having made a movie before, and utilizing comparatively primitive camera and recording equipment, Kurt and his son Ian crafted a movie unlike any other in the rock-doc genre.
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  2. Movieline
    Reviewed by: Stephanie Zacharek
    Jan 6, 2012
    80
    The result is a kind of homespun video scrapbook, bumpy seams and glue splotches and all; it's flawed, but at least it feels handmade and human.
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  3. Los Angeles Times
    Reviewed by: Gary Goldstein
    Jan 6, 2012
    70
    The result is an unhurried, visually compelling look at a man and his music - as well as of a bygone America filled with shuttered downtowns and the ghosts of such late musicians as Elvis Presley and blues pioneer Robert Johnson.
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