Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads

Summary

Rising Sun Media has released the music documentary Eric Clapton: Standing at the Crossroads on Blu-ray. I was interested to check this out because I remember just how much Clapton received acclaim in the Nineties while I was growing up, and I was curious to hear more about his life story. I am sad to report that this is a pretty underwhelming release.

First off – the film is listed as being made in 2022. From what I can tell, this does not appear to be the case. It seems like all the interviews were performed in the latter part of the Nineties, or in the early 2000s. That this release is an upscale of a documentary from around that time would not be a big deal if the company performing the upscale had put any work towards actually making the footage look better or presenting the songs in 5.1. This is not a proper remaster, and in this age, it feels like a rip-off to hear these songs come through the speakers this way.

On top of that, the documentary itself is not what I had hoped. While the film provides some details on Clapton’s rise from the Yardbirds, to Cream, to Blind Faith, to Derek and the Dominos, to revered solo artist, it all feels half baked and undercooked. Interviews with Clapton himself shed little light, and the interviews with collaborators and friends all amount to people simply saying how much they respect him. On top of that, some of the live footage used looks or sounds terrible. The live version of Cream’s “I’m So Glad” was so grating I wanted to turn off the movie. The filmmakers also leave out a lot of information that would hold interest for a viewer, such as the relationship between Clapton, George Harrison, and Pattie Boyd (whom Clapton married.) This type of bizarre omission makes the whole film feel underwritten.

While the film serves as a decent hour and a half distraction, it is not fulfilling. I had read that this was the “ultimate” documentary on Clapton, and if so, that is a big disappointment.

Video:

The video transfer appears to be an upscale of what looks like DVD-era footage. This is not an attractive transfer. Some of the footage used in the doc looks very rough.

Audio:

This is where this release committed its worst sin. The audio is canny. None of the songs that play in the documentary have been remastered within the documentary to play in 5.1 sound. This  made the documentary much less enjoyable than it could have been.

Supplements:

None.

Overall Scores:

Video: 3/5

Audio: 3/5

Supplements: 0/5

Overall: 3/5

I can’t imagine that even Eric Clapton super fans will find this documentary worthy of a purchase. The Blu-ray itself has lazy technical merits, and the documentary is more of a promotional piece than a work of journalism. It’s very shallow and not as informative as one would hope. This release does not earn our recommendation.

The film can be purchased at www.moviezyng.com.