CinemaXanadu celebrates Leonard Cohen:
Bird on a Wire (2010)
Originally made in 1972 and directed by celebrated British filmmaker Tony Palmer, Bird on a Wire follows Leonard Cohen on his 1972 European tour.
After massive editing of hundreds of hours of the original footage, although not by Palmer, the film was released in 1974, had a very limited run and then disappeared. Like many films from that era, it was thought that the original version had been lost but, in 2009, 294 rolls of film were discovered containing many of the original rushes, together with the soundtrack of the 1972 film. Palmer was able to restore much of this footage and it became available on DVD for the first time some three years ago.
Bird on a Wire contains 17 classic performances, 4 poems and a great deal of tour footage. It reveals Cohen’s enormous personal charm and charisma but also demonstrates the stress involved in a long tour of unfamiliar venues. The tour ends quite poignantly in Jerusalem.
