Cult icon, enigma, recluse… the life of Syd Barrett, the visionary songwriter who was a founding member of Pink Floyd, is full of unanswered questions. Until now.
Pink Floyd were caught in the epicentre of the underground scene of the 60s as the psychedelic house band of the UFO club in London, with Syd Barrett its enigmatic figurehead, inspiring such musicians as David Bowie and Marc Bolan. Though he named the group, wrote the first two hit songs and was the lead vocalist and guitarist, Barrett was pushed out of the band by its members who were convinced he was having an LSD induced psychotic breakdown. Barrett subsequently dropped out of the music industry, living as a recluse for thirty years.
Directed by Storm Thorgerson and Roddy Bogawa, the film combines archival footage with present-day interviews (including classic band members David Gilmour, Nick Mason, and Roger Waters)/ Thorgerson was a lifelong friend of Barrett’s and, as a member of the graphic art collective, Hipgnosis, designed a number of Floyd’s album sleeves and influenced the band’s game-changing aesthetic. (94 min)
It’s as comprehensive and coherent an account of Barrett’s counterculture tragedy as one could hope for. And while the film, co-directed by Roddy Bogawa, illuminates Barrett to a greater degree than any other account I’ve come across, it maintains the artist’s enigma. – The New York Times
