8.4 /10 1 Votes
98% Rotten Tomatoes Directed by Jay Bulger Starring Ginger Baker Initial release 28 November 2012 (USA) Screenplay Jay Bulger | 7.6/10 IMDb 4/5 The Guardian Written by Jay Bulger Edited by Abhay Sofsky Director Jay Bulger Cinematography Eric Robbins | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Produced by Jay Bulger
Andrew S. Karsch
Fisher Stevens
Erik H. Gordon Production
company Insurgent Media
Pugilist at Rest Productions Music director Bill Laswell, Susan Jacobs Cast Ginger Baker, Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, John Lydon, Stewart Copeland Similar Drummer movies, Movies about musicians, Documentaries | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Beware of Mr. Baker is a 2012 American documentary film by Jay Bulger about the jazz and rock drummer Ginger Baker.
Contents
Background
For Bulger's article "The Devil and Ginger Baker" in Rolling Stone magazine, Bulger lived with Baker in South Africa where Baker had spent the previous decade living in seclusion. The article and the numerous hours of interviews Bulger captured on film became the premise for the film, and in the spring of 2010, Bulger returned to South Africa with a small film crew to finish making the film. It premiered at the 2012 South by Southwest Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary. The title is a reference to a sign outside of his South African compound.
Reception
Rotten Tomatoes gave the documentary film an approval rating of 98% based on 48 reviews; the average rating is 7.8/10. The consensus reads, "Free of the hagiographic overtones that dog many documentary profiles, Beware of Mr. Baker presents a clear-eyed, thoroughly gripping look at one of rock's greatest – and most personally problematic – musicians." The film won several awards and was nominated for the 'Grierson Award' at the 2012 London Film Festival.
Baker said of the film himself, "Some of it is very good and some of it is very annoying." He elaborated that he was frustrated with the inclusion of some of the people on the film but was pleased to see Eric Clapton and Charlie Watts had taken part.