NEW YORK DOLL (2005)

Holy shit this was good. I wasn't really familiar with Kane's story. After the NY Dolls broke up, he went back and forth from NYC to LA, starting new bands that never went anywhere. Then he beat his wife up and jumped out a third story window. He still has bolts in his elbow.

After that, he saw an ad for Mormonism on TV, called the number and the Mormons showed up at his door. He said talking with them felt like the high from doing drugs and he converted. The movie follows him to his job working in the ancestry library at the local Mormon temple. It looks like he was living on social security (he also got jumped and was beat so bad he had to learn how to walk and talk again.)

There are a lot of interviews with the Mormons he hangs with, but the best were the two little old ladies working in the library with him. It seems like they didn't realize he played music, and I'm sure were pretty shocked when they saw NY Dolls pictures. An interviewer asks them at one point if they are groupies. Kane talking to them about the roll of the bass player in a band was amazing.

So Morrissey asked the Dolls to play a reunion show in London, which they agreed to with Kane, Johanson and Sylvain (RIP) all participating. Kane seems to blame Johanson for Kane's life not working out (as a side note, it's not entirely clear how strong Kane's mental health is - some of his speaking mannerisms could be a result of having to learn to speak again.) But the 2004 reunion goes great, and he seems really happy about it. He was stoked at how much nicer his hotel room was than his apartment in LA. It was kinda cute. He was thinking about touring with the reformed band.

22 days after the show, Kane is diagnosed with leukemia. Two hours after the diagnosis, he dies.

This is how you do a documentary.