Very few music documentaries in the history of the form have more successfully conveyed the inner workings and outer artistic expression of a band than Cameron Crowe's brilliant Pearl Jam Twenty.

Crowe has assembled some top-drawer ephemera -- old show posters, home movies, and candid backstage footage -- but he overestimates his audience's patience for present-day talking-head interviews.

With its intimacy and (this can't be emphasized enough) fantastic sound, Pearl Jam Twenty is like two hours spent rediscovering the band through excellent headphones.

It is told in big themes and bold colours with blistering sound and is carved from over 1,200 hours of rarely seen and never-before seen footage spanning the band's career.