The Stones and Brian Jones

Released Nov 7, 2023

1h 32m

Documentary

Music

List

92%

26 Reviews

Tomatometer

81%

Fewer than 50 Ratings

Audience Score

Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.

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Critics Consensus

Engrossing and incredibly sad, The Stones and Brian Jones is arguably the definitive documentary about its talented subject's troubled life and tragic demise.

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Michael

Lots of great unseen footage and the interview segments with Bill Wyman were fantastic. I understand the need to display Brian's descent into drugs and poor behavior choices, but there was still more of his musical contributions that could have been explored over some of the more focus on the salacious side of Brian and the Stones and their girlfriends. However the movie is still an informative viewing and spotlights Brian's importance to the band. His contributions are still missed.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

11/19/23

Full Review

Andy F

It told so much about Brian that I did not know before. Every fan of The Rolling Stones will love this part of the history of the founder of the band.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/08/23

Full Review

Kevin L

This is what I want from docs like this about musicians. I want bandmates, actual friends, family, studio folk who were part of their life. I generally dislike those w/ rando journalists, audiophile fans, non-band members who weren't really close to the person/band, and stale critics rambling on. Lotta video content from Jones' life I'd never seen. Does a strong job of showing the progression of Jones from r 'n' b blues guy needing to put together a band, to Jones at his heartiest as the band exploded around the world and his life was a feast of pleasure and attention, then finally to the crumbling figure w/ a consistent diet of drug abuse and self-sabotage. Interviews w/ band members and love/sex interests are fairly enlightening. Some very much cutting through any mythology of Jones or the band to the root of the problems and Jones' darker side of his personality. But man, they made some damn fine rock n' roll w/ Jones, too. 3.4 stars

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

04/04/24

Full Review

Tyler T

This movingly documented tragedy explains so much to me about this important band from way before my time.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/16/23

Full Review

Andrew R

One of Broomfield's best. A brilliant portrait of a troubled artist struggling in the shadow of Jagger and Richards. Some incredible archive footage too.

Rated 5 out of 5 stars

11/15/23

Full Review

Ruth C

Great footage, especially of Brian and Anita Pallenberg. But Jones still comes across as unknowable, as he has always been. It's too bad there weren't more old interviews with Jones. People talked about how difficult he could be but he ends up being a silent cipher. It made me want to know more about his childhood. Did he have brothers and sisters? The movie skidded along but just scratched the surface. The best parts were when Bill Wyman played some Stones' songs and highlighted Brian's musical contributions in them. Bill did seem to be the one Stone who genuinely cared about Brian.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

11/08/23

Full Review

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Nick Broomfield

Director

Brian Jones

Self

Mick Jagger

Self

Keith Richards

Self

Bill Wyman

Self

Charlie Watts

Self

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Ty Burr

Ty Burr's Watch List

The film is worth a Stones die-hard’s time for the early concert footage and for the participation of a pleasantly doddering Bill Wyman...

Rated: 2.5/4

Dec 1, 2023

Full Review

Godfrey Cheshire

RogerEbert.com

What the filmmaker really has to offer here is a thesis: he thinks Jones’ rise and fall were essentially determined by his relationship with his parents.

Rated: 3/4

Nov 17, 2023

Full Review

Nicolas Rapold

New York Times

The tender twist to this film is that some of his exes — who included Anita Pallenberg and Zouzou, the French actress — help narrate much of his drug-aided decline, most with fondness.

Nov 16, 2023

Full Review

Benjamin H. Smith

Decider

The Stones and Brian Jones is certainly a thorough and professionally done bio-doc and Broomfield’s affection for the subject matter is obvious. My main complaint is it doesn’t go far enough in explaining Jones’ musical and cultural importance...

Jan 22, 2024

Full Review

Barbara Goslawski

That Shelf

Broomfield creates a poignant autobiography of the musician and a competent history of the early days of the band, but the film doesn’t answer claims that even it brings up.

Dec 6, 2023

Full Review

Lael Loewenstein

FilmWeek (KPCC - NPR Los Angeles)

What's really cool about this documentary is their interviews with Bill Wyman and other musicians about Jones' creative contributions to the group, and I didn't really know about that before.

Nov 29, 2023

Full Review

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Synopsis

Featuring revealing interviews with all the main players and unseen archive released for the first time, The Stones and Brian Jones explores the creative musical genius of Jones, key to the success of the band, and uncovers how the founder of what became the greatest rock'n'roll band in the world was left behind in the shadows of history.

Director: Nick Broomfield
Producer: Dan Braun, Josh Braun, Patrick Holland, Jan Younghusband, Mark Bell, Charles Finch, Paul Trynka, Harriet Vyner
Distributor: Magnolia Pictures
Production Co: Lafayette Film
Genre: Documentary, Music
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Nov 7, 2023, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Nov 17, 2023
Box Office (Gross USA): $57.7K
Runtime: 1h 32m

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