Robert Fripp and bandmates assess King Crimson’s legacy in this tragicomic progumentary.
Agently probing film about the domineering egos and tortuous power relations that afflict almost all veteran rock bands, In The Court Of The Crimson King is comedy tinged with tragedy, an observational backstage documentary with inevitable echoes of This Is Spinal Tap. Shot around King Crimson’s 50th anniversary tour in 2019, this talk-heavy fly-on-the-monitor portrait is unlikely to win the proggy jazz-metal titans any new converts. But anyone who has spent time hanging around sound-checks and dressing rooms will recognise the volatile mix of grinding tedium, deadpan humour and occasional musical alchemy captured here.
Commissioned by Crimson main man and sole remaining founder member Robert Fripp, director Toby Amies takes an unorthodox approach to the band’s fivedecade story, mostly using contemporary interview footage rather than the standard archive-heavy rockumentary format. There are actually snippets of 28 classic Crimson tracks woven into the film’s soundtrack, but most of the musical segments glimpsed
