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'Neil Young Journeys,' 4 stars

Neil Young fans will recognize these lyrics: "There is a town in north Ontario/With dream, comfort, memory to spare/And in my mind/I still need a place to go/All my changes were there."

They're from the song "Helpless," one of Young's prettier, more personal songs. Now, in "Neil Young Journeys," we actually see the town in north Ontario -- Omemee, Young's hometown.

It's an odd movie, as befits its subject: In addition to a driving and walking tour of Young's childhood, hosted by the man himself, it's also a concert film, capturing parts of his two solo performances at Toronto's Massey Hall in May 2011.

What's more, it's also director Jonathan Demme's third collaboration with Young, along with "Neil Young: Heart of Gold" (2006) and "Neil Young Trunk Show" (2009). A lot of us would like to see Demme get back to such films as "The Silence of the Lambs" or "Something Wild," but in Young he's found a natural partner, a fitting subject for his offbeat ideas. But if this is how he chooses to spend his time between features, that works out just fine.

Young is a notoriously idiosyncratic man and performer; this is evident here throughout. He follows his brother in a car for part of the trip, commenting on this family who lived in that house or how they built an addition onto the church or remembering how he used to fish when he was 5, using a wagon to bring home his catch. There's a weirdness to it, but also a wistfulness -- the same wistfulness, perhaps, that informs his singing voice. It may be an acquired taste, but it's one well worth acquiring.

At one point, the wistfulness becomes more explicit.

"Aw, man, ..." Young says, after surveying a field where buildings once stood. "It's all gone."

Then, a pause.

"But it's in my head. That's why you don't have to mourn when you lose friends. They're still in your head, still in your heart."

And, if you're Young, still in your songs.

Don't be misled. This isn't half travelogue, half concert film. The concert takes up the greater part, and it doesn't disappoint. It's just Young and his guitar (with an occasional switch to organ), and man, does he make noise -- a massive, sometimes discordant, always glorious noise. Whether he is wailing away on the one-note guitar solo in the older song "Down by the River," strumming the life out of an acoustic for "Peaceful Valley Boulevard" or using an electric as a kind of wand for feedback at the end of "Walk With Me," which closes the show, he comes off like a mad scientist, so intent on expressing whatever he is trying to get across that pleasing an audience seems like an afterthought -- which is precisely why the audience is so pleased.

Like Young, Demme often takes an iconoclastic route. This is in part a concert film, yes, but not a traditional one. Demme often films Young in extreme close-up -- as in his lips touch and fog the lens. It's not flattering. Nor are the shots from below the microphone, looking up at Young's whiskered chin. And yet it's so fitting. Like Young's use of feedback, it somehow just works.

Sometimes, however, a straightforward approach works. This is most evident in "Ohio," Young's raging lament about the Kent State University shooting, in which Ohio National Guardsmen killed four students in 1970. The song still has power; Demme increases it by including news footage from the tragedy, as well as the names and pictures of the victims.

It's important that this isn't an old-time greatest-hits show. Much of the set list comes from "Le Noise." Young is one of only a handful of artists from his generation still making vital contributions, or even trying to. Some of his efforts are hit-and-miss, but he's still in there swinging. He never stops moving, changing, evolving, and it makes him fascinating.

The lyrics of "Helpless" say one thing, but "Neil Young Journeys" suggests another: A lot happened for Young in that town in north Ontario, but not all of his changes were there. They're still under way.

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