Patti Smith: Dream of Life (2008)

65% of critics liked it
(37 reviews)
73% of users liked it
(718 ratings)

Filmmaker Steven Sebring directs this documentary about legendary musician Patti Smith, surveying her life, her career, and the philosophical and spiritual themes that have remained so potent in her work. Following her through 11 years of work and touring, the film explores Smith's artistry in… More Filmmaker Steven Sebring directs this documentary about legendary musician Patti Smith, surveying her life, her career, and the philosophical and spiritual themes that have remained so potent in her work. Following her through 11 years of work and touring, the film explores Smith's artistry in music, painting, and poetry, offering intimate insight into the musician's often conflicted creative style. ~ Cammila Albertson, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: Unrated, 1 hr. 49 min.
Directed By: Steven Sebring
Written By: Steven Sebring
Genres: Musical & Performing Arts, Documentary

In Theaters: Aug 6, 2008 Limited
On DVD: Jan 13, 2009
Studio: Palm Pictures

Critic Reviews

Dan DeLuca, Philadelphia Inquirer
That spirit of encountering the world with undying artistic curiosity -- and without a plan -- informs Dream of Life, a drifting portrait of Smith.
Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle
If you don't already own "Horses," this movie will make you want to go out and buy it. You'll also want to start surfing the Internet to fill in the blanks that Dream of Life fails to include.
Carina Chocano, Los Angeles Times
There's a note of mourning in this otherwise celebratory film -- for punk rock, for New York, for reality, for a time when popular music was animated by something other than money.
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail
Dream of Life barely hints at the transformational energy that Smith exudes in person, but it does paint a portrait of a defiantly creative life.
Peter Howell, Toronto Star
Patti Smith: Dream of Life, fashion photographer Steven Sebring's impressionistic study of the most influential of punk poets, disarms and charms with its honesty.
V.A. Musetto, New York Post
I imagine you could call Dream of Life a loving meditation on a one-of-a-kind performer. And you don't have to be a Smith fan (I am one, by the way) to enjoy.
Kat Brown, Empire Magazine
Sebring's drifting tone might leave you bemused, but take it as it comes and it's a captivating insight into modern music's godmother.
Trevor Johnston, Time Out
For all its transient black-and-white beauties, denies its subject the sort of solid context that would reveal the scale of her achievements. A patchy, frustrating, though loving tribute.
Hannah Forbes Black, Film4
An extraordinarily intimate portrait of an extraordinary woman, Dream of Life charms despite being filmed through a sycophantic haze.
Wendy Ide, Times [UK]
While it fails to place Smith's work and her significance in context, the film certainly captures her charisma, wit and passion.
Peter Bradshaw, Guardian [UK]
There are flashes of insight and genuinely moving moments in this long, meandering, wildly indulgent movie record of poet and singer-songwriter Patti Smith.
David Gritten, Daily Telegraph
Smith, an eloquent subject with a wry view on her life, generously pays tribute to such influential mentors as Dylan, Burroughs and Ginsberg. Her fans should be entranced.
Rob Daniel, Sky Movies
Succeeds in making the 109 minute running time feel like at least eight of the eleven years he took to shoot the film.
Robin Clifford, Reeling Reviews
...succeeds in showing Patti Smith as a talented, compassionate together woman who knows what she is and what she wants in life. Unfortunately, there was too much fodder mixed in to hold my interest...
Laura Clifford, Reeling Reviews
Sebring took his time filming it and takes his time letting his film unfold, but he has captured it all with a lack of convention that mirrors its subject.
Stan Hall, Oregonian
Patti Smith: Dream of Life vividly illustrates the rewards and pitfalls of a documentary film that is completely enamored of its subject.
Glenn Whipp, Los Angeles Daily News
Heavy on the gabba-gabba, light on the hey!
Jeffrey M. Anderson, Combustible Celluloid
Gets extra credit for trying something different.
Jane Stevenson, Jam! Movies
Dream of Life takes a while to find its rhythm but once it does, it's riveting stuff.
Steve Simels, Boxoffice Magazine
Insufferable, endearing, pretentiously arty, bracingly direct, humorless, hilarious, oddly distant and strangely touching, but always compulsively watchable -- in other words, a fabulous contradictory mess, much like Smith herself.

Read all 21 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Eric B

Speaking as a long-time Patti Smith fan, I was disappointed with this documentary. She and director Steven Sebring -- who worked on the film for 11 years -- were obviously bent on avoiding the usual format of performance clips and fan/musician testimonies, but their own route can be… More
Speaking as a long-time Patti Smith fan, I was disappointed with this documentary. She and director Steven Sebring -- who worked on the film for 11 years -- were obviously bent on avoiding the usual format of performance clips and fan/musician testimonies, but their own route can be unbearably heavy-handed and pretentious. For every one endearing, human scene (Patti bantering at her parents' house, warming up voices with her band or discussing awkward urination with Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea), there are five dreary passages of incidental footage mixed with ponderous narration and poetry. Smith is consumed with death -- understandable, considering the long list of friends and lovers she has lost (her husband, her brother, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Sohl, Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs and more) -- but her endless elegies and solemn gravesite visits turn repetitive and verge on self-parody. We gain zero insight into her creative process or history as recording musician, and an attempted acoustic crooning of Dylan's "A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall" is an embarrassing reveal of her paltry guitar skills. There is one wholly magical moment, however -- a relaxed, domestic Patti singing to her cat as she lovingly teases it with her hand. This can't be missed. But on the whole, you're better off reading her recent memoir, "Just Kids."
Walter M

Made over a ten year period, "Patti Smith - Dream of Life" is not a film recommended for newcomers to the work of the artist, activist, poet and accidental rocker. There is just a little biographical information dispensed early on which is not as much as I recall from a… More
Made over a ten year period, "Patti Smith - Dream of Life" is not a film recommended for newcomers to the work of the artist, activist, poet and accidental rocker. There is just a little biographical information dispensed early on which is not as much as I recall from a Robert Mapplethorpe biography I read some years ago. In this book, some of her friends were worried by her marriage to Fred Smith, move to Detroit and sudden domesticity, cutting her off from many of them. Regardless, she grieves for her dead husband deeply, along with Mapplethorpe who she was close to and modeled for. In fact, the tone of the documentary is somber as Smith looks back on all the people gone from her life, reinforcing my image of her as a designated mourner, especially after the recent death of her friend Jim Carroll. In any case, her life moves continually forward, making the raucous rendition of her band playing "My Generation" very ironic. Unfortunately, there is also the pissing contest...
Lesley N

Filmed over ten years, mostly in black and white, this documentary shows scenes from Patti Smiths life, family and friends and tours. She stands in vivid contrast to the pretty-girl -pop music business, and her intelligence, political awareness and way with words come out strongly, as… More
Filmed over ten years, mostly in black and white, this documentary shows scenes from Patti Smiths life, family and friends and tours. She stands in vivid contrast to the pretty-girl -pop music business, and her intelligence, political awareness and way with words come out strongly, as does her loyalty to friends, and her responsibility as a parent. Very interesting, and definitely worth a watch.