Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me

(Magnolia Home Entertainment)

During their brief, cultish lifespan, Seventies power popsters Big Star failed to find a large audience, and visionary co-frontmen Chris Bell and Alex Chilton each paid a considerable price in the wake of that commercial failure. One of the many heartening facets about Drew DeNicola’s soulful documentary is its emphasis upon the posthumous triumph of the Memphis combo, whose brilliant three-album oeuvre outlasted the band’s career frustrations to inspire multiple generations of listeners and artists. With a lack of vintage performance footage and the absence of Bell (who died in 1978) and Chilton (who passed away during production), Nothing Can Hurt Me draws considerable insight from interviews with a small army of friends, colleagues, and acolytes, while using the band’s sublimely bittersweet recordings to poignant effect. The DVD offers even more of a good thing, with an additional hour’s worth of outtakes, interviews, and archive footage.

This article appears in December 13 • 2013.

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