In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 is a 2022 music documentary film about the British progressive rock band King Crimson. It was directed and co-produced by Toby Amies. The film follows the band around 50th anniversary tour from 2018 until the last concert in 2021, also featuring archival footage of TV broadcasts and concert performances throughout the years of activity.
| In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Toby Amies |
| Produced by |
|
| Edited by | Ollie Huddleston |
| Music by | King Crimson |
| Distributed by | Monoduo Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 86 minutes |
| Land | Vereinigte Staaten |
| Sprache | Englisch |
| Box office | $68,776[1] |
The documentary features former and current members of the band such as Adrian Belew, Bill Bruford, Mel Collins, Michael Giles, Trey Gunn, Gavin Harrison, Jakko Jakszyk, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Jamie Muir, Pete Sinfield, David Singleton, Jeremy Stacey and Ian McDonald. The main action, however revolves around personality of Robert Fripp, his relationships with bandmates and personal philosophy. Latter half of the film is focused on Bill Rieflin and his involvment in the band whilst suffering from cancer. The film also involves interviews with several fans of the band, most notably, Norwegian nun, sister Dana Benedicta from Notre-Dame de Grâce, Oslo.
Production
It is believed that the idea to create the film about King Crimson was born in winter 2017 when Rober Fripp, longstanding leader of King Crimson, met director Toby Amies on Christmas party and got talking about filmmaking.[2] Later Fripp recruted Amies to produce documentary about the band, commemorating its 50th anniversary. Director agreed "with no idea of how hard that would be to make".[3] The reported initial title of documentary was "Cosmic FuKc", which was the reference to The Man Whose Mind Exploded, previous work by Amies, liked by Fripp, and should have had a subtitle from bands' 1995 negative US review "Prog Rock Pond Scum Set To Bum You Out".[2][4]
King Crimson manager David Singleton said that Amies was asked to "reimagine the format" of music documentary and was given "complete creative freedom".[3] Director confirmed that he had no editorial interference from Fripp, claiming that only one former or current band member reserved right to make some changes regarding thier appearance in the film.[5] Amies "spent a long time getting my subjects comfortable" before "taking a picture of that relationship" within the band.[6] He closely followed the band in 2018 - 2019 around 50th anniversary tour adding interviews and talking heads features alongside some historical footage. However, no clear overview of bands history was provided as director focused on "personality rather than performance, relationship rather than recording"[7] of former and current King Crimson members described as "complete opposite of how a documentary is done".[8] Another unusal method, used by Amies was the decision "to write himself into the story" including off-camera questions and personal comments.[6] The Guardian compared film with "an episode of The Office but with huge drum kits, grizzled roadies and rapturous fans".[9]
Described as "modern form of roving Cinéma-Verité", camerawork by Amies, although critisized by filmmaker himself, captures natural state within the band, resulting in some shots even being out of focus.[8]
Release
The release of the documentary was announced in 2019 during first press conference by Fripp since 2014 that also featured screenning of a few brief clips.[4]
The premiere of th the film occured on March 14, 2022 at South by Southwest film festival. The film was shown at IFI Documentary festival[10], Gothenburg Film Festival[11], DOK.fest München[12] etc. For one day only on 19 October, it entered limited theatrical release in the USA and on 22 October received separate screening in London.[13] The same day, also one-night-only digital event release happened.
On November 8, 2023 wider theatrical release occured across North America and since December 1, 2023 documentary is avaliable on streaming platforms.[14]
References
- ^ In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 at Box Office Mojo
- ^ a b Robinson, John (2022-05-25). "King Crimson on In The Court Of The Crimson King, a new documentary marking their 50th anniversary". UNCUT. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ a b Shteamer, Hank (2022-02-02). "'Some of Us Went Through Hell': New King Crimson Doc Trailer Reveals Agony and Ecstasy of Legendary Band". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ a b Shteamer, Hank (2019-04-09). "King Crimson's 50th Anniversary Press Day: 15 Things We Learned". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 2023-12-22.
- ^ Thompson, Ben. "December 2022". members.mojo4music.com. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ a b O'Byrne, Ellie (2022-10-08). "A jester in the court of the Crimson King". Tripe + Drisheen. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ "On Screen – 'In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50' | 360°Sound". 360degreesound.com. 2023-12-01. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ a b "Toby Amies - In The Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50". Echoes And Dust. 2022-11-20. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ Felperin, Leslie (2022-10-19). "In the Court of the Crimson King: King Crimson at 50 review – a rollicking workplace comedy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ "IFI Documentary Festival: IN THE COURT OF THE CRIMSON KING: KING CRIMSON AT 50". Irish Film Institute. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ "In the Court of the Crimson King". Göteborg Film Festival (in Swedish). Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ Michael Bartle, Bayerischer Rundfunk (2023-05-05). "Pop&Rewind: Wie die Band King Crimson seit 50 Jahren mit ihrer Musik an die Grenzen geht". www.br.de (in German). Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ ""A grown-up film about working players living, dying, laughing, playing" King Crimson documentary gets release date, live stream event". Guitar.com | All Things Guitar. Retrieved 2023-12-23.
- ^ Pearis, Bill (2023-11-06). "King Crimson documentary 'In the Court of the Crimson King' in theaters now, streaming in December (watch the trailer)". BrooklynVegan. Retrieved 2023-12-23.