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Toby Amies / United Kingdom / 2022 / 86 mins
“‘In The Court of the Crimson King’ is a dark, comic film for anyone who wonders whether it is worth sacrificing everything for just a single moment of transcendence. For over 50 years Robert Fripp, also famous for his work with Bowie and Eno, has overseen a unique creative environment in which freedom and responsibility conspire to place extraordinary demands on the band’s members – only alleviated by the applause of an audience whose adoration threatens to make their lives even harder. It’s a rewarding and perilous space in which the extraordinary is possible, nothing is certain, and and not everyone survives intact.” – South by Southwest Festival
“‘In The Court of the Crimson King’ is really about as good as rock documentaries get, in capturing the essence of a group of musicians and how they relate to each other, the world and a muse whose demands result in literal and figurative calluses. That doesn’t mean that King Crimson is the kind of Everyman group whose struggles will be relatable even to garage bands, the way the Beatles’ battles were in ‘Get Back’. There’s nothing remotely prototypical about this one-of-a-kind crew – although there may be some universality that other bands can relate to in how King Crimson has somehow survived for 53 years as a not-always -benign dictatorship.” – Variety
“A film about King Crimson and all its weirdness might be one of the finest rock documentaries ever made.” – Kyle Smith, National Review
With: Mel Collins, Robert Fripp, Jakko Jakszyk, Tony Levin, Pat Mastelotto, Bill Bruford, Adrian Belew, Bill Rieflin, Jeremy Stacey
To view the full 13th Parish Festival programme, please click here.
