As such, it can be rather reverential, dry and by-the-numbers in its approach to the music documentary genre – something of a disappointment from Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, the team behind The Galapagos Affair: Satan Came To Eden. Lacking the personal insights and colour of Nick Broomfield’s Marianne & Leonard: Words Of Love, this is very much an examination of the singer’s philosophy and his laborious process. There’ s a slightly on-message quality to the interview insights
This is filmmaking which echoes Cohen’s music style – it’s contemplative, searching and stripped back, but it can also be somewhat navel gazing, ponderous and very slow. However, in the absence of new interviews with Cohen – the singer died in 2016 at the age of 82 – the film relies on the insights of colleagues, friends and family, all of whom are fully paid-up members of the church of Leonard. It’s an approach which shares common ground with the long running podcast ’Song Exploder’, in which musicians dissect a composition and reveal the process of their creation. The career and legacy of gravelly poet troubadour Leonard Cohen is explored through a deep dive into his most famous song, the much covered ’Hallelujah’. ‘Hallelujah: Leonard Cohen, A Journey, A Song’ĭirs. Courtesy of The Leonard Cohen Family Trust