The Ben Harper documentary “Pleasure & Pain” has just begun a two-month U.S. theatrical run, on the heels of its release on DVD Tuesday (Nov. 26) by Virgin. As previously reported, the film, directed by noted photographer Danny Clinch, blends concert clips from North America and Europe with an array of off-stage footage, including interviews with Harper’s grandparents in his childhood hometown of Claremont, Calif.
“It’s not a concert film,” Clinch told Billboard.com last year. “It’s not just on the road, or on the tour bus. It really goes beyond that.” Some 20 Harper songs are woven throughout the film, but only a handful, including “Please Bleed,” “Faded,” “Steal My Kisses,” “The Woman in You,” and “Power of the Gospel,” are presented in near-complete forms.
For first-time filmmaker Clinch, the prospect of battling Harper in the editing room was a daunting one, but his worries proved unfounded. “I felt like there was a chance he would throw his weight around, but in the end I sent him my rough cut, and after seeing it a couple of times, he called back and said he really liked it,” Clinch reveals. “[Harper and producer J.P. Plunier] respected the fact that it was my piece. I really felt honored that they chose to stay out of it and let me finish it on my own.”
Harper and his band the Innocent Criminals are hard at work on their next Virgin studio album, due sometime next year. For a full list of theaters screening “Pleasure & Pain,” visit the artist’s official Web site.
