RESERVOIR TITLES FEATURED IN LEON RUSSELL ‘A POEM IS A NAKED PERSON’
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Filmmaker Les Blank posthumously pays homage to blues-rocker Leon Russell in his buzzed-about film, A Poem Is a Naked Person. A ninety minute documentary, A Poem follows Russell’s career between the years of 1972 and 1974, complementing his story with the use of his own repertoire, including the Reservoir titles “Acid Annapolis”, “Roll Away the Stone”, “Rollin’ In My Sweet Baby’s Arms”, “Shoot Out on the Plantation”, and “Hello Little Friend”.
With Blank’s passing in 2013, the documentary nearly went unreleased. Fortunately for film- and music-lovers alike, son Harrod Blank remastered the film and released it this year, upon which it’s continued to garner intrigue throughout its limited release, with Variety praising its service as an accurate “time capsule” of a musical era, even through its uncomfortable segments, and the New York Times agreeing that it’s a “strange and glorious artifact of its moment.”
A Poem is a Naked Person is currently playing at the New York City Film Forum. Watch the trailer for the film below.