Patti Smith: Dream of Life

Life isn�t some vertical or horizontal line. You have your own internal world, and it�s not neat.

�Patti Smith

Not vertical nor horizontal nor neat, Dream of Life is a hypnotic plunge, a breathing collage of this legendary musician/poet/painter/activist�s philosophy and artistry that feels as if it sprang directly from her soul. A punk pioneer and spiritual child of Rimbaud, Blake, and Burroughs, Patti Smith�s fierce poetry and rock music shook up New York�s 1970s underground scene, and her work continues to be stirred organically by her rigorous mind, beloved artistic touchstones, and world events.

Shot over 11 years, Dream of Life travels Smith�s mystical interior terrain�the ideas, losses, and memories she wrestles with�as much as tracing her outward adventures. Layered with mesmerizing recitations, music, and narration, the fluid journey incorporates performances, graveyard pilgrimages and political rallies, archival nuggets, and v�rit� moments with her working-class parents, children, and friends. From raw, intimate sessions in her apartment to formidable incantations delivered to roaring crowds, Smith�s expression is unmediated by pretense or artifice. Remarkably�and this may be the key to her artistic potency�she doesn�t reject death or construct polarities of good and bad. Instead, she embraces darkness and melancholy in a way that�s liberating and also life affirming. As she manifests the transcendent in life, Dream of Life reaches for the ineffable in Patti Smith.