Mixed feelings. That's what I have about Tempo of a restless soul, the Tom Barman-documentary that was screened for the first time wednesday evening at the Vooruit in Ghent.

Since it was the première almost everybody who was in the movie, was also at Vooruit. Tom, Stephane, Alan and Klaas (no Mauro), Christian Pierre, Tom's mother, Renaat Lambeets, Manu Riche, etcetera.

I didn't really know what to expect. To be honest, I was really looking forward to the movie, until I saw the trailer last week. It wasn't tempting at all. But it was only the trailer...

The prologue was rather original. Tom, his sister and his mother are discussing the documentary and his sister clearly isn't very happy with it (at that moment). The documentary itself gives us a nice view on the period between the release of Pocket Revolution and the gig at Werchter 2008. Since Manu Riche and Renaat Lambeets have recorded about 100 hours of material, they probably had a difficult job reducing it to about 90 minutes.

And probably that's the problem I have with Tempo of a restless soul. Ofcourse it offers us a nice view on life on the road. And ofcourse it's nice to see the little discussions about some errors played during Suds & Soda. But it's too fragmentaric. And we have to guess where and when the band is, since there are no indications of time and place in the movie. As a heavy dEUS-follower I was able to add that context myself, but I can imagine there's other people who can't.

Tom's bond with his mother is more or less the red thread of the movie, but again it lacks depth. Why is this bond so special? Since the working title was Portrait of a young man as an artist, I really was expecting a deeper glimpse into Tom's soul. A depth interview with Tom would ofcourse be a better way to discover that then the fly on the wall-style of filming.

The most intense part is probably the scene two days before the start of the recording sessions of Vantage Point where Alan turned out to be stoned as a monkey. At that moment we get to see Tom worried about Alan (as a friend), but also angry (as frontman) since Alan's timing is really bad. Alan was taken to rehab and they started the sessions with the songs where Alan is less important.


The big episodes of the last three years are all in the movie (first time at Vorst, touring the USA, 0110, Werchter 2008), but as a fan I'm still a little bit hungry. I would have been nice to see Tom's mother during the Vorst-gig. Or to see more of the preparation of 0110. And why isn't the Werchter-fireworks not shown? We see Tom talking about his plans during the final notes of Suds & Soda, but we don't get to see wether his plan came out.

The most interesting scenes for me were the dressing room scenes. The stress before the gig, the rituals before they get on stage, the exitement afterwards and the discussions about song X or Y being not that good as the other night. The backstage-meetings with fans and the frustration about a no smoking-sign in a dressing room in the USA.


I may sound a little negative, but that's probably because I really had high expectations. Don't be afraid to go and watch it if you get the chance. If you're a dEUS-fan you're definitely gonna enjoy it (and the demo-versions of songs in it). If you're no dEUS-fan you'll get a glimpse of the busy and energetic way of life of Tom and the band the past years. Let's hope some stuff from the 100 hours of recording material, finds its way to us through a dvd or the website.