- Network: HBO
- Series Premiere Date: Oct 5, 2011
Critic Reviews
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At 208 minutes, Scorsese has accomplished the best documentary that is probably possible.
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The exhaustive nature of it, and the intimacy that Scorsese and his collaborators develop with both their subject and those who knew him, makes it into something more than a three-plus hour rehash of an oft-told tale.
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This may be the better work [than "No Direction Home"], for its depth of feeling and its relatively more forthcoming and knowable subject.
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Martin Scorsese's affectionate, exhaustive two-part HBO documentary George Harrison: Living in the Material World. Harrison's easily mocked mysticism has rarely seemed as sincere and hard-won as it does in Scorsese's respectful, 3 1/2-hour profile.
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In contrast to Scorsese's other work, like his Bob Dylan documentary and "The Last Waltz," George Harrison feels like it doesn't get far below the surface.
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Beautifully filmed, George Harrison: Living in the Material World is especially good on the singer-guitarist's post-Beatles life as he sought enlightenment in Eastern religions. [10 Oct 2011, p.40]
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Living in the Material World finds plenty to say, though, particularly in the final two hours, when Olivia Harrison's honesty contributes mightily to Scorsese's portrait of an artist more interesting than some of us may have realized.
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Living in the Material World foregrounds [George Harrison's] qualities so pointedly that it seems to be channeling the personality of its subject. It's a problematic, at times off-putting, but ultimately fascinating work, moving through George's life with its own mysterious internal logic.
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Composed of extraordinary source footage, most entirely unseen before, that combines newsreels, U.S. and British television shows, home movies and hundreds of rare photographs blended with the requisite talking-head interviews.
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That Living in the Material World shines scant illuminating light on Harrison's story is all the more frustrating for its immense length.
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An absorbing and beautifully made film in its own right, whose 208 minutes mostly fly by.
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Living in the Material World falls short of Scorsese's terrific two-part PBS film, No Direction Home: Bob Dylan.
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For its epic investment, Living in the Material World still feels like only part of the story.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 11 out of 13
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Mixed: 1 out of 13
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Negative: 1 out of 13
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Dec 26, 2021
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Jul 11, 2012
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Oct 10, 2011