Rating: 
Summary: A Very Emotional and Intelligent Tribute
Review: Inspite of having been a fan for a very long time, I was amazed by how much I learned about Joni Mitchell as a woman and an artist. Her courage, her integrity, the enormous sacrifices and the very bold daring to lay it out and reach people with her thoughts and emotions are all the more underscored by this remarkable flim. Her best songs, her best friends, her achievements and disappointments are all detailed here. The footage of her in concert is brilliant. Her honesty rules at all moments, and perhaps with all the posturing and self-righteousness that pervade music now, it is uncannily refreshing to listen to her once more, with very open ears.
I understood exactly the breakdown and recovery she went through from BLUE to FOR THE ROSES, retreating to Canada, and I can understand what is so important about such a retreat. It seems to be for her like Coltrane's retreat to his home in Philly to beat heroin, only to re-emerge as the most forward thinking artist of his generation, spiritually renewed and with a vision clearly in focus. Mitchell seems to have undergone a similar spiritual conversion and when she came back from the wilds, she was prepared to journey where none of her contemporaries could imagine.
Her romances, particularly with Graham Nash and Larry Klein are presented beautifully. Her collaborations with the very best in jazz: Mingus, Metheny, Jaco, Shorter: are in retrospect incredible artistic achievements, regardless of the criticism of the folk-rock nazis of the time. She connects with people, especially artists who are trying to make sense of the world and the lives we are given. Her mission to find her daughter re-oriented her priorities profoundly. This woman has travelled quite a road. Her hejira has captivated us. This film is a great tribute to an incredible woman.
Rating:
Summary: A biassed opinion
Review: Joni Mitchell - Woman of Heart and Mind: A Life Story
Regarding this movie and it's relationship to Joni's music: Collin's comment's above are true, but any Joni Mitchell fan worth their salt knows the songs by heart and doesn't really need the full cut to appreciate the emotion her music always produces and to experience a profound appreciation of her art. I never felt a need to explore in-depth the source of her inspirations, since her music is so articulate at telling us that story. I saw this documentary for the first time just the other day and my friend and I, both burly 60s guys, musicians and long time fans, watched with tears in our eyes at the sheer poignancy and beauty of Joni the musician and incredible human being, and the story of how her music evolved. Sure there were flaws but those who love her will be overwhelmed by this film. Anyone who doesn't like this bio has gotten so jaded by life that they really ought to go listen to some of Joni's CDs to be reminded of what life is really all about at it's deepest level.
James Wolfgram
Silver City, NM
Rating: 
Summary: An Entertaining Biography
Review: This DVD chronicles the life, loves and career of Joni Mitchell. She was very strong-willed, battling childhood polio and later teaching herself to play guitar. That combination of determination and talent helped her succeed in the male dominated world of folk music. To paraphrase her, she wanted to combine the melodicism of the big band era with the lyricism of Bob Dylan in the songs she wrote. She soon went from the coffee houses of Greenwich Village to Carnegie Hall. Ever the wandering spirit, she moved from New York to Laurel Canyon, LA, where she met and fell in love with Graham Nash. During that period, when they were living together, Graham wrote "Our House" and Joni wrote the album "Ladies Of The Canyon." That album included the official anthem to the sixties' most famous music festival, "Woodstock." Ironically, Joni was supposed to play at Woodstock, but her manager talked her out of it at the last minute.The DVD goes on to chronicle Joni's musical journeys into pop ("You Turn Me On, I'm A Radio") rock and roll ("Raised On Robbery") and jazz ("Mingus"), a superb album that was savaged by the critics and ignored by the record buying public. Joni continued to release many fine albums throughout the eighties and nineties. Joni finally won a Grammy in 1996, when "Turbulent Indigo" won for best pop album. Unlike other music veterans who won Grammies late in their careers, Joni's win did not translate into huge records sales and lots of radio airplay. Nevertheless, this multi-talented artist continues to make great music. The DVD includes snippets of songs performed in various concerts throughout her entire career. A bonus section features four songs, taken from her 1998 video "Painting With Words And Music," in their entirety. The songs are "Big Yellow Taxi," "Amelia," "Hejira" and "Woodstock."
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Documentary
Review: This is a sensitive and beautifully made documentary that I recommend highly. Joni is one of my favorite musicians. I have been listening to her on a regular basis for over 30 years. As a result, my expectations for this kind of film were high, and overall I was pleased with what I saw. By far the most appealling part of this documentatary is the wonderful archival footage of a young Joni doing a number of her great early songs. This material simply shimmers with an almost other worldly glow. The retelling of the writing of her song Woodstock all but had me in tears, it was so moving and evocative. The commentary by people who knew her well, such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, David Geffin, and others, is thoughtful and very enlightening. Recent footage from an interview with Joni herself is also very engaging. Ultimately I would like to read a really long, really thorough biography that would explain all the complicated details that make up this extraordinary woman's life. There just wasn't enough room to dig into some of the most interesting transitions in her complicated life in this beautifully made, two hour long film. I still hunger for more information. Joni is such an intelligent woman, and many of the decisions in her later life would make interesting material for a more in depth exploration. Her relationship to jazz, the development of breakthrough albums such as Hejira and Mingus, her personal thoughts on other musicians, etc. All of this would be interesting to read about in more depth. But one needs to recoginize the limitations of the genre. You can only do so much in a documentary film. And certainly one understands why there was so much focus on her early career, given the almost transcendent power of the early archival footage. The early Joni was a being from another planet, or some parallel idealized universe, almost impossibly beautiful and talented. Given the nature of this early footage, it is easy to forget that she became more interesting as she grew older. Overally, this is excellent work, a must see for any one who really loves Joni's work and wants to know more about her. (If one gives every film that one really likes 5 stars, then how can you highlight those truly stellar films that all but change our lives. This is a great film, but I can only bring myself to give it 4 stars. It's very good, but it's not a Bergman or Fellini film.)
Rating:
Summary: Long overdue highlight of the high priestess of song.....
Review: This is a very well done documentary of Joni that actually
does her justice. A complex musical adventurer with a talent
and gift that just excelerated with each new release and took
all her fans on quite a ride during her hey days all through
the 70's. It was a rough ride through the 80's for singer-songwriter musicans but Joni found herself in the early 90's
and went on to make outstanding musical commentaries not only
related to love but the escalting decline of our culture, a subject critics harped on Joni for. From beginning to end this
is a messmerising journey from a lady that has no peers when it
comes to this business. To this day no one has been able to
do the things Joni did and take the risks, new artists are not
allowed this musical freedom to explore. Everyone who loved what made the 70's so special for musicans should check this
out, it has allot to say.
Rating:
Summary: A diamond in the rough
Review: Until I received this dvd, I had never heard a Joni Mitchell song, didn't know anything about her, and all I knew was her name. This entire DVD told me everything I wanted to know and all I wondered about, her life, how she was raised, her inspiration for songwriting... and her love for creating music in which she said Bob Dylan inspired her. Lovely woman, great talent, great dvd with awesome bonus footage of her singing live songs on stage.
Rating:
Summary: Joni Mitchell DVD awakens passion for great musical artistry
Review: What a wonderful father's day gift the new Joni Mitchell DVD is! It is pure pleasure to be able to re-experience the joy of her talent, artistry, and music and learn about her life and fascinating musical journey. There are a number of performers today who in very small ways mimic Joni Mitchell's gift. This DVD shows that today's "artists" do not write, sing, or play at this level nor can they touch the emotional part of us that this wonderful musician can. I recommend this DVD to all who have appreciated Joni Mitchell and to the younger audience who would like to experience the "gold standard" as they search for inspiration among the current generation of performers. I am so pleased to give this a prominent place in my growing DVD collection.
Rating: 
Summary: clips clips....... just clips
Review: when you look at the track listing,how can you not you buy this dvd?However when you pop it in,it doesnt take long to find out,that its just a collection of clips,no complete songs.This dvd could have been amazing with the amount of material they have. However they chose to show 10 second clip of great song,interrupted by bald rock n roll critic explaining me the significance of what i was seeing.Rock n Roll high school 101. Save your money or buy a concert video.
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