Before there was indie rock (or MP3s or iTunes or the Internet), there was college rockway back in the ’80s, when a Boston band called Treat Her Right enjoyed modest success. Mark Sandman was already in his 30s then, older than his fans, but he still hadn’t hit it big. Morphine changed all that, and the sultry, noir-tinged trio toured constantly before Sandman’s untimely death onstage in 1999. But the fans who’ll come to see Cure for Pain: The Mark Sandman Story know all that. The doc includes plenty of performance clips, testimonials from his musical peers, and home movies from his family. It’s more tribute than trenchant, since Sandman was, in his manager’s words, a secretive guy. Coy with the press, with a witty, deadpan economy of word, his cultivated cool was part of Morphine’s pared-down aesthetic. Whether he’s bemused or aloofyou really can’t tell. But Morphine’s sound, unlike Sandman’s ’80s cohort, is still unique, rumbling, and grave. (NR) BRIAN MILLER
Sept. 9-11, 7 p.m., 2011
