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Beware of Mr Baker (15)

Beware of Mr Baker (15)

Documentary

Ginger Baker looks back on his musical career with Cream and Blind Faith; his introduction to Fela Kuti; his self-destructive patterns and losses of fortune; and his current life inside a fortified South African compound.


The critical consensus

The sign at his front gate announces: BEWARE MR. BAKER. Director Bulger has braved this dragon's lair, and brought back treasure.

****(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 16/05/2013

It’s a broadly forgiving portrait of an impossible, irascible talent, who seems to have treated life much like his instrument.

***(*)(*)Tim Robey, The Telegraph, 16/05/2013

No one said he had to be nice. He's not. And there's no heartwarming reconciliation on the cards between Baker and his grownup son, who is also a drummer. But when we are always being told that books and movies have to have "sympathetic" lead characters – well, here's a documentary that does very well without one.

****(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 16/05/2013

Like Spinal Tap's more seriously older brother, Jay Bulger's fond but unsparingly honest film is a treat for fans and music lovers. A juicy slice of rock history.

****(*)Patrick Peters, Empire Online, 16/05/2013

This is a nostalgic documentary about a Sixties rock survivor but one without the sugar coating.

****(*)Allan Hunter, Daily Express, 17/05/2013

His music's appeal reaches far beyond rock, jazz and fusion fans (with good reason he complains about the lyricist and composer getting most of the royalties on discs he dominates), and the constantly gripping film is adroitly assembled.

Philip French, The Observer, 19/05/2013

His subject ultimately comes across as tragicomic; a man who knows his place in musical history, but won’t let others define it. An old dog with a gruff bark who, as Bulger finds out, still has some bite left.

*****Neil McEwan, TVBomb, 03/06/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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