Directed by Jonathan Demme. Featuring Neil Young, Pegi Young, and Emmylou Harris. Rated G. Plays Friday to Tuesday, February 17 to 21, at the VanCity Theatre

Director Jonathan Demme doesn't use this concert film to dazzle the way he did in Stop Making Sense. But today's Neil Young, as seen in Demme's mellower-than-thou Neil Young: Heart of Gold, is not the Talking Heads of 20 years ago. Then again, who is?

The enduring art of making music, if not sense, for its own sake is the subject of this event, shot over two nights at Nashville's famed Ryman Auditorium. You could also say it's Neil Young's main subject. What other artist has had such a long run working in so many areas without polishing any of them to death? He's always been a slapdash singer, player, and writer; like, he's had plenty of time to improve some of those lame rhymes over the years, but uh-uh.

A raw, journal-keeping quality has always imbued Young's style, whether electric or acoustic, although he sticks to the latter here while surrounded by a coterie of singers, horn players, and laid-back masters of their stringed instruments. Among the most notable-not that they do anything showy during the 103-minute film-are steel-guitar man Ben Keith, keyboardist Spooner Oldham, and singer-guitarists Pegi Young and Emmylou Harris (who just gets more gorgeous as she ages).

The program's first half is devoted to Young's most recent record, Prairie Wind, and it's a testament to the soulful finesse of the players that these rather ordinary songs sound special. It's no doubt too obvious to point out that tunes like "Old Man", "Harvest Moon", and "Needle and the Damage Done" remain more exciting than the current material. Still, newbies like "This Old Guitar", dedicated to Young's favourite instrument-a Martin D-28 that used to belong to Hank Williams-have a valedictory quality that more than earns their keep.

Heart of Gold begins with Young and others explaining that both concert and film came about when the high-voiced Canadian had a health scare last year. You'd think Demme would include some more chat about that, or at least break up the straightforward concert footage with a bit of backstage patter. But we do know that our hero pulled through the crisis with a renewed commitment to staying behind his old guitar. Like the movie, what he does ain't fancy but it sure is real.