The boldest contact in Oliver Stone’s movie “The Doorways” is that it by no means glorifies its material, rocker/poet Jim Morrison.
Fairly than create an ode to the so-called “Lizard King” and rejoice his physique of labor, Stone’s movie portrays Morrison as a vile monster, a wordsmith who tarnished each significant friendship he had.
Morrison fronted The Doorways, some of the influential bands of the Sixties. He left us with numerous nice music. Right here’s a film that offers followers what they need and count on but additionally depicts its key determine in essentially the most off-putting method attainable
Val Kilmer stars as Morrison, a free spirit whose filmmaker aspirations have been lower quick after he meets Ray Manzarek (Kyle MacLachlan). The 2 kind a band (Frank Whaley and Kevin Dillon play the opposite members of The Doorways) and create some groovy, poetry-driven rock.
Then, Morrison’s habits, fixed public intoxication and button-pushing actions on stage tarnish their picture.
Kilmer’s monumental efficiency as Morrison is fearless, an uncanny embodiment that transcends mere impersonation. The film doesn’t allow us to into Morrison’s private head house however displays his way of thinking and the world he inhabited.
Of the band members, MacLachlan fares finest as Manzarek (Dillon and Whaley stay within the background of most scenes).
Meg Ryan’s flip as Pam, Morrison’s girlfriend, is underappreciated. Like Kilmer, Ryan by no means flinches from displaying her character at her most unguarded and unfavorable. Crispin Glover’s scary/humorous Andy Warhol is one for the time capsule. So is Kathleen Quinlan’s ferocious work as a journalist/witch who entices Morrison.
An intriguing thought is implied early on: Stone seems as Morrison’s UCLA movie professor and accuses Morrison’s work of being “pretentious.” Morrison is crushed and dramatically leaves the category (it’s among the many extra refined issues he does within the movie).
The Doorways (1991)
Val Kilmer lived and breathed Jim Morrison for nearly a 12 months earlier than cameras rolled, afterwards he needed to search psychiatric assist get ‘Jim’ out of his head. He ought to’ve gained an Oscar for his unbelievable efficiency… he wasn’t even nominated.
RIP Val Kilmer pic.twitter.com/ZMoP8H1E60— The Sting (@TheStingisBack) April 2, 2025
It could possibly be steered that what got here subsequent, Morrison’s profession as a musician, was the worst factor that would have occurred to him. Being well-known enabled him to take pleasure in each temptation possible. Pam reminds Jim early on, not unreasonably, “You’re a poet, not a rock star.”
Morrison was hooked on medicine and obsessive about demise, even earlier than he had copious quantities of cash, medicine and booze at his disposal. Morrison’s life step by step grew to become self-destructive efficiency artwork, wherein he was continually surrounded by “vampires” (just like the eerie pop figures he encounters at Warhol’s Manufacturing facility).
Stone’s filmmaking mirrors the carnival mirror method of Nicolas Roeg or Ken Russell at their battiest. With its gauzy haze and plenty of, many hallucinatory scenes, it’s as if the entire film have been excessive.
It feels much less like a facsimile and extra like a film that escaped from its period. At one level, Morrison declares “I reside within the unconscious.”
So does this film.
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If “The Doorways” doesn’t sound like enjoyable, it’s as a result of it largely isn’t. Earlier than Morrison’s life and the story turn out to be a collection of unlucky incidents, there’s the early scene the place he takes the band and their girlfriends on a visit to the desert the place they take acid. It’s a protracted scene and a persistence tester, even for followers of the band and music bios.
Stone’s imaginative and prescient of Morrison is of a person horrible at dealing with actuality. We continually reduce to the younger Morrison remembering a automobile crash from his childhood. The incident stands out as the key to the character, or in no way, merely the one second that resonated from his youthful days.
Probably the most revealing character second is when Quinlan’s reporter informs Morrison that she situated his mother and father; it’s one of many few occasions once we see Morrison caught off guard. In any other case, neglect ready for a personality dissection. Morrison’s life as a rock god is introduced as an escalator heading down, a red-tinted descent into hell.
Some have come ahead through the years to defend Morrison’s reminiscence and accuse Stone of exaggerating (Oliver Stone bending the reality? No manner!). Even when the three most objectionable and excessive moments are eliminated (there are dozens to select from), the purpose continues to be made that Morrison was a drifter, an artist and a bully.
Michael Wincott’s supervisor character has a key line early on, wherein he addresses Morrison’s outrageous habits: having witnessed Janis Joplin “fall right into a bottle,” he doesn’t need the identical factor to occur to Jim.
The factor is, I really like The Doorways, have learn Morrison’s guide of poems and dig his music however, regardless of the way you need to spin it, his life is a cautionary story, not a factor to rejoice. The closing scenes present us his grave and reveal the startling undeniable fact that Morrison solely lived to be 27 years outdated.
Morrison is rarely made sympathetic right here, and the movie itself is commonly laborious to endure. Each Stone and Morrison’s extra turn out to be an excessive amount of. It’s a foolish and overlong movie however not a silly one.
Here’s a rock and roll epic that surprisingly attracts us to the music however makes us assume twice about celebrating the person behind it. A lot of this performs like a nasty acid journey…nevertheless it’s nonetheless a visit.