ELIZABETHTOWN: OR why Cameron Crowe and Nick Hornby seem to better understand me than i'm ever able to express to others
I saw Cameron Crowe's newest flick Elizabethtown yesterday with my girlfriend Steph. It was a toss-up between that or the new Cameron Diaz one In Her Shoes...well guess which one was my preference...Luckily, I got the reccomendation from good ole Steve, and with that we tipped the scales in favour of the former Cameron, not the latter. I'm quite glad we did.
Quick points of the movie without ruining it: Orlando Bloom (yes he's in it, and no he isn't annoying in it) plays Drew, who loosely narrates the flick and also is the main character.
He has just lost his job after the shoe he spent 8 YEARS...designing has been recalled from stores, costing his multinational corporation 972 million (or as Alec Baldwin hilariously put it..."its so much money you can round it to a Billion"). Needless to say Drew is devastated, and heads home to do himself in, but just as he's about to, the phone rings and after finally answering it, its his sister, whom he asks to call back later, but she won't b/c she is calling to tell him that their father has died suddenly visiting his family in Kentucky (Elizabethtown of the title).
So right away I can majorly identify with Drew as a character, and felt what he felt at that moment. It was from this moment on that I was almost totally captivated by the story. Flying to Kentucky he meets Kirsten Dunsts' character who is quite something. we then meet the first of many family members, Drew's cousin, who totally reminds me of someone i know i just can't put my finger on it (although he does vaguely resemble Trevor Linden). who was in a band that seems to have been a borderline Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band.
The family scenes about the southern us clans who come together are dead on with what the scene was like in ST Louis when my father's father died, all kinds of folks i didn't know all over the place with so much food and laughter and life.
I'll skip over the majority of the details cause i think i am best suited to discussing this movie with (A) people who've already seen it and (B) people who know me well.
The music, as with any CC film is AWESOMe, soundtrack supervised by his wife Nancy Wilson of Heart. Features a lot of Americana/midwest/country-tinged music that much of which descended from the Gram Parsons influence (which i truly love).
music also takes a deep role in the film as kirsten dunst's character makes a number of cds for DRew to take with him and play on his drive home to Oregon from Kentucky, with carefully drawn out instructions along the way and music that fits the drive.
This was totally up my alley, and made me totally agree with her line that everyone needs to take one roadtrip with nothing but music and companionship.
I also on a more deeply personal level was amazed how Crowe hit the nail on the head with the comment that u should embrace the deep melancholia associated with the death of drew's father.
it struck quite a chord with me and its moments like this that music and film really really really speak to me more than any other time (and if u know me you know how much of my life is spent with music/films).
I'll leave off with one final comment...the Freebird scene will forever have a place in my favourite film moments.
the Nick Hornby I'll have to leave to another entry but he hits those levels too in his writing, and the transfer of some (NOT ALL) of his books to films.
Life sure is something isn't it.
Quick points of the movie without ruining it: Orlando Bloom (yes he's in it, and no he isn't annoying in it) plays Drew, who loosely narrates the flick and also is the main character.
He has just lost his job after the shoe he spent 8 YEARS...designing has been recalled from stores, costing his multinational corporation 972 million (or as Alec Baldwin hilariously put it..."its so much money you can round it to a Billion"). Needless to say Drew is devastated, and heads home to do himself in, but just as he's about to, the phone rings and after finally answering it, its his sister, whom he asks to call back later, but she won't b/c she is calling to tell him that their father has died suddenly visiting his family in Kentucky (Elizabethtown of the title).
So right away I can majorly identify with Drew as a character, and felt what he felt at that moment. It was from this moment on that I was almost totally captivated by the story. Flying to Kentucky he meets Kirsten Dunsts' character who is quite something. we then meet the first of many family members, Drew's cousin, who totally reminds me of someone i know i just can't put my finger on it (although he does vaguely resemble Trevor Linden). who was in a band that seems to have been a borderline Lynyrd Skynyrd tribute band.
The family scenes about the southern us clans who come together are dead on with what the scene was like in ST Louis when my father's father died, all kinds of folks i didn't know all over the place with so much food and laughter and life.
I'll skip over the majority of the details cause i think i am best suited to discussing this movie with (A) people who've already seen it and (B) people who know me well.
The music, as with any CC film is AWESOMe, soundtrack supervised by his wife Nancy Wilson of Heart. Features a lot of Americana/midwest/country-tinged music that much of which descended from the Gram Parsons influence (which i truly love).
music also takes a deep role in the film as kirsten dunst's character makes a number of cds for DRew to take with him and play on his drive home to Oregon from Kentucky, with carefully drawn out instructions along the way and music that fits the drive.
This was totally up my alley, and made me totally agree with her line that everyone needs to take one roadtrip with nothing but music and companionship.
I also on a more deeply personal level was amazed how Crowe hit the nail on the head with the comment that u should embrace the deep melancholia associated with the death of drew's father.
it struck quite a chord with me and its moments like this that music and film really really really speak to me more than any other time (and if u know me you know how much of my life is spent with music/films).
I'll leave off with one final comment...the Freebird scene will forever have a place in my favourite film moments.
the Nick Hornby I'll have to leave to another entry but he hits those levels too in his writing, and the transfer of some (NOT ALL) of his books to films.
Life sure is something isn't it.
posted by Gavin27 @ 7:14 PM
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