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- 2023
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
- 2023
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
Summary Facing the end of a 60-year musical career, legendary singer and activist Joan Baez takes an honest look back and a deep look inward as she tries to make sense of her large history-making life and reveals, for the first time, personal struggles she’s kept private, until now.
- 2023
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
- 2023
- Magnolia Pictures
- 1 h 53 m
Joan Baez I Am A Noise
75
9.4
Where to Watch
Summary Facing the end of a 60-year musical career, legendary singer and activist Joan Baez takes an honest look back and a deep look inward as she tries to make sense of her large history-making life and reveals, for the first time, personal struggles she’s kept private, until now.
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Metascore
Generally Favorable
Based on 8 Critic Reviews
75
88% Positive
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
13% Mixed
1 Review
1 Review
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Throughout the film, it’s Baez who holds the audience spellbound, not just in live performances that remained transfixing from the late 1950s to the 2010s, but in her very being.
It’s a somewhat sprawling and almost ungainly film, years in the making, very revealing and yet notably incomplete.
This visual memoir paints a picture of a woman who, while leading a rich professional life, was plagued by personal demons.
I Am a Noise, beginning with Baez actually consulting a voice coach as she prepares for what will be a “farewell tour” (it was undertaken in 2019 before COVID hit the world), is a coherent, cohesive, and sometimes jarringly frank portrait.
The celebrated folk singer and activist was singing about civil rights, of course. But what we learn in the thoughtful, thorough and sometimes harrowingly intimate Joan Baez: I Am a Noise is that Baez was also seeking to overcome much on a personal scale: anxiety, depression, loneliness and, late in life, troubling repressed memories about her own father.
Sure, it’s not terribly satisfying resolutionwise because you’re still left with as many questions as answers in the end. But that’s the thing about looking back on your life at a relatively late age. So many gaps left unfilled.
The bottom line on Joan Baez I Am a Noise is that if you absolutely love Baez and her work, you will find nothing here to challenge your preconceptions and will probably learn some things you didn’t know. But if you’re merely Baez-curious, this documentary will not satisfy and might even make you less curious.
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 5 User Ratings
9.4
100% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
User Score
Universal Acclaim
Based on 5 User Ratings
9.4
100% Positive
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
0% Mixed
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
0% Negative
0 Ratings
0 Ratings
There are no user reviews yet. Be the first to add a review.
Production Company
Mead Street Films
Release Date Oct 6, 2023
Duration 1 h 53 m
Genres
Awards
Cinema Eye Honors Awards, US
• 1 Win & 2 Nominations
Berlin International Film Festival
• 1 Nomination
Nashville Film Festival
• 1 Nomination