(Oliver Stone, 1991 US, 140 min.)

Oliver Stone followed a remarkable string of late-’80 s films (Platoon, Wall Street, Born on the Fourth of July) with this biopic account of Jim Morrison’s notorious group. What may seem like stunt casting — Val Kilmer as Morrison, Meg Ryan as his partner Pamela Courson, Kyle MacLachlan as keyboardist Ray Manzarek — proves insightful over the course of the film as we follow the rock star’s trajectory toward self-infatuation and overdose. First inspired by hearing the Doors as a 21-year-old soldier in Vietnam, Stone’s film is as psychedelic and it is impassioned, standing alongside JFK and Nixon in his fine biographical tradition.

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