Do The Doors still matter in 2010? That's the unstated question posed to anyone watching "When You're Strange," a new documentary that tracks the band's short and tumultuous career in the 1960s.
"When You're Strange" arrives some four decades after the death of lead singer and bona fide rock god Jim Morrison at the age of 27. Director Tom DiCillo, working with the full support of the band, seeks to tell The Doors' story as it was seen at the time, solely using period footage to bring the era to life.
Doors fans will be pleased to note that DiCillo had full access to a lot of rare and unseen material, including Morrison's film in progress "HWY," and the intimate, hanging-with-the-band reels shot by Paul Ferrara, a friend of Morrison's from UCLA. The only context supplied is some voiceover narration by Doors fan Johnny Depp (whose presence alone may be enough to make The Doors hip again and not just dad's music).