Paul McCartney really never left — not in the 1970s and not now. “Man on the Run,” a new documentary directed by Morgan Neville, which Brown recently screened as part of an event at the Veterans Memorial Auditorium, wholly affirms the legend’s lasting power.
Consisting of footage and photographs from the 1970s, the film documents the decade of Paul McCartney’s life between the breakup of The Beatles and the death of John Lennon.
The film’s opening grapples with the big question: Who broke up The Beatles? In the documentary, Paul McCartney reveals that the public noise blaming him for the breakup convinced him at times that he was the culprit. After this reflection, McCartney humorously indulges in the conspiracy theory of his death that circulated before the announcement of the band’s breakup.
The documentary then shows Paul McCartney on his farm in Scotland with his late wife, Linda McCartney, and their children. Scenes of Paul McCartney’s life on a farm are intercut with intimate clips of Linda McCartney’s eyes beneath blowing strands of her blonde hair. These scenes illustrate their lives out of the spotlight, depicting a humanized version of the McCartney family not often portrayed in the media.
At this point, Paul McCartney is left asking: How does one follow up The Beatles? The film then traces Paul McCartney’s creation of his first solo album, “McCartney,” and then the conception of Wings, his band with Linda McCartney, guitarist Denny Laine and a rotating crew of musicians.
With Wings, Paul McCartney had to manage a very different kind of band dynamic than the democracy of The Beatles because of his star status relative to the other members. As he reflects on learning to be a good boss, viewers are offered a fascinating insight into the interior of his mind beyond his music.
At times, the film lingered too long on the comings and goings of Wings’s various bandmembers, but effectively narrated Paul McCartney’s unbelievable accomplishment: finding musical success again after being in one of the most prolific groups of all time.
Much of the film feels like a tribute to Linda McCartney and their family, and this choice is what makes it different from The Beatles documentaries of the past. It is a testament to Paul McCartney’s love for his family, and a defense of his contentious choice to include Linda McCartney as a member of Wings, even as critics disparaged her talent.
Beautiful is inadequate to describe the manner in which the McCartneys raised their children in nature, with music, art and laughter. They never left the kids behind, bringing them on tour and on their travels. The documentary depicts this herculean effort of parenting, highlighting how Linda McCartney did it all with style, grace and a rock’n’roll whimsy.
Home videos shot by the couple capture intimate, sparkling moments in their home and on the road over the years. The archive of footage is immense, most notably — and comedically — featuring the infamous Japan trek, which landed Paul McCartney in jail for nine days for possession of marijuana.
But not everything was well curated. At times, Neville overdid it, like with a recurring water motif that failed to make sense until two-thirds of the way into the film and stop-motion paper graphics that felt a little gimmicky.
Neville’s triumph, however, was in excluding any footage from the present day. All reflections and insights were told in voiceovers, so as to never interrupt the immersion into this decade of Paul McCartney’s life.
This story could not be told without addressing the friendship between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Neville did this lifelong, everlasting friendship justice by bringing on Sean Ono Lennon to explain the relationship between his father and Paul McCartney, a moving testament to the pair’s reconciliation in the years after the band’s breakup.
Sean Ono Lennon was one of several interviewees, including Mary McCartney, Stella McCartney P’29 and Mick Jagger, a co-founder and lead singer for the Rolling Stones. Neville also included old audio clips of Linda McCartney that so perfectly answered the film’s questions that it felt like she was being interviewed in real time.
Overall, the documentary solidifies that Paul McCartney is an inimitable legend — as funny as he is musically genius, and as wise as he is wild.
Rebecca Goodman is a university news senior staff writer covering career and alumni. She is a junior from Cambridge, MA, studying English. Outside of writing, you can find her at the Avon or in the basement of the Rock.
