海角大神

I鈥檓 usually dubious whenever a singer-songwriter is characterized as some kind of spiritual seeker. But if ever there was someone who deserved that description, it鈥檚 Leonard Cohen. The new documentary 鈥淗allelujah: Leonard Cohen, a Journey, a Song鈥� amply demonstrates, through multiple interviews and archival material spanning decades, just how deeply personal, oftentimes almost sacramental, his music-making could be. As the record executive Clive Davis says in the film, 鈥淣o one walked in his path. He didn鈥檛 walk in anybody else鈥檚 path.鈥�

Rather than structure their movie as a chronological biography, the co-directors, Daniel Geller and Dayna Goldfine, wisely focus on the genesis of Cohen鈥檚 most celebrated and performed song, 鈥淗allelujah.鈥� This approach allows them to interweave Cohen鈥檚 entire career while also avoiding the one-thing-after-another sprawl that often bogs down these kinds of films.

How did Cohen come to write 鈥淗allelujah鈥�? Not quickly. It took him seven years, and hundreds of drafts of alternate lyrics, before he unveiled the song in 1984. By pop-rock standards, Cohen, who died in 2016 at age 82, was always a late bloomer. Born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Montreal, he began his career as a renowned poet and novelist and didn鈥檛 compose or perform music until he was in his early 30s. 鈥淗allelujah鈥� was included 鈥� on Side B! 鈥� in his 1984 album 鈥淰arious Positions,鈥� but record executives were so dismissive of the disc that they only released it outside the United States. (It was subsequently picked up without fanfare by a small independent label.) Walter Yetnikoff, then-president of CBS Records, told Cohen, 鈥淲e know you鈥檙e great, but we don鈥檛 know if you鈥檙e any good.鈥澛�

It was only in 1991, when Velvet Underground co-founder John Cale performed a version of 鈥淗allelujah,鈥� drawing on some of Cohen鈥檚 alternate lyrics, that the song gained traction. Three years later, in a plaintive performance best described as angelic, Jeff Buckley recorded it for his 鈥淕race鈥� album. Bob Dylan covered it. And then, in 2001, it was featured in, of all things, 鈥淪hrek,鈥� with Cale鈥檚 version on the soundtrack. (The double platinum movie album featured Rufus Wainwright instead.) The song has subsequently been covered innumerable times 鈥� my favorite is k.d. lang鈥檚 powerhouse rendition, briefly excerpted in the movie 鈥� and it鈥檚 become a mainstay at weddings, and, alas, on 鈥淎merican Idol鈥� and 鈥淭he Voice.鈥� 聽

Despite all this exposure, it鈥檚 never been entirely clear what the song, with its mix of the spiritual and the secular, actually聽means. It鈥檚 a resonant riddle. Cohen speaks directly to God in it and also to his own deepest desires, referencing everything from his own lost loves to David and Bathsheba. But perhaps this is a song that doesn鈥檛 gain with explication. Cohen refused to spell things out. He says in the film, 鈥淚f I knew where songs come from, I鈥檇 go there more often.鈥� Heard in a live concert, the chorus of 鈥淗allelujah!鈥� that periodically surfaces is so overpowering that clearly it touches audiences of every faith, or none. As the singer Regina Spektor says, 鈥淵ou get this feeling of hearing a modern prayer.鈥�

You certainly get that feeling watching Cohen perform the song in front of an audience, especially in the concert clip we see near the end of his life. He looks to be in a state of rapt contemplation. But he can also be raspy and insinuating, beseeching, doomy yet rife with hope. He鈥檚 working out his feelings about the mystery of life, right there in front of us.

Cohen was a voluminously complicated man, but he must have felt, on some private level, that this song was his apotheosis. As the film concludes, he offers up, if such a thing is possible, a kind of summation. He says, 鈥淵ou look around and you see a world that is impenetrable, that cannot be made sense of. You either raise your fist or you say 鈥楬allelujah.鈥� I try to do both.鈥�

Peter Rainer is the Monitor鈥檚 film critic. 鈥淗allelujah鈥� is available in some cities starting July 1. The film is rated PG-13 for brief strong language and some sexual material.聽