I caught Ethan Coen's documentary “Jerry Lee Lewis: Trouble in Mind” at Cannes last month. The film is being produced and distributed by A24.
Much like brother Joel, Ethan is basically a solo creative now, he stated that he made this doc while trapped in his New York apartment during the start of the pandemic in 2020.
And, it shows.
The film plays like something a person with a lot of time in their hands would concoct. It’s 100% archival footage, but much of the stuff Coen gathers here is still quite exciting; from live footage to outrageously frank interviews from decade’s past.
‘Trouble in Mind’ isn’t even edited coherently. It’s not chronological, but rather rambling and zippy. Even worse, Coen barely tackles Lewis’ marriage to 13-year-old Myra Gale Brown, his first cousin once removed. He was 22. Brown would eventually file for divorce, citing that she had been "subject to every type of physical and mental abuse imaginable”.
Lewis, much to my surprise, is still alive at 86 yeas of age, living somewhere in Memphis. He blessed this documentary with his approval, but didn’t allow himself to be interviewed for a single second. What gives?
Most of the footage shown here can probably be found on YouTube. It’s a rather disappointing solo outing for Coen. Compare it to the other big Cannes archival documentary from this year, Brett Morgen’s creatively daring Bowie doc “Moonage Daydream,” and it’s a night and day difference.