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Reviews
Songcatcher (2000)
A realistic view of the "discovery" of Appalachian music
I saw this film at the Sunday Mornings at The Charles film series in Baltimore. It moved me more than any film I saw this last series. I have to admit I come from some Appalachian roots on my dad's side, but only knew of the harshness, as the music wasn't played in our home. Growing up in the DC/Baltimore area we were the logical place for Bluegrass and so-called "mountain music" to migrate, and I've heard it for most of my life. I started listening to it more intently after being influenced by the late Ralph Rinzler, acclaimed musicologist and creator of the Smithsonian Festival of American Folklife.
The film gets jump started by the knee-jerk reaction of an esteemed musicologist who was yet again turned down for tenure -- clearly based on her gender. Her life's work is the folk music of the British Isles and when her departure from academia takes her to her sister's school in western North Carolina she is immediately presented with "her" music in this "backwards" environment. Imagine her surprise. She then turns on her academic engines and decides to collect and publish this wondrous music of the Appalachians.
She is taken to "Songcatchers", or the people who are the preservers of this oral legacy, to learn the songs. It takes her some effort to win their trust, but she gets a recommendation from Pat Carroll's character which gets her through skeptical doors. It takes her a long time to be truly accepted into the community and finally as a "songcatcher" herself. There are about 20 songs performed and I felt they were the true foundation for the film. The drama is always invigorated by them.
Many reviews are critical of the stereotypical characters, but there actually were rich "do-gooders" who made public displays of "educating the mountain savages" and "evil" coal and lumber company operatives who swindled the illiterate landowners. This film's coal company character might seem oversimplified, but he also initiates the most riviting moment of the film when he starts singing "O Death", which is completed by the legendary Hazel Dickens. This moment brought tears to my eyes.
If I have a complaint about this film, it's a little too busy. It tries to deal with lesbianism, untrustworthy men, distrustful and violent mountain people, the harshness of the land and life, a male-dominated community and the music. A couple of these, perhaps the first two, could have been sacrificed to make the rest of the film stronger. This in no way makes the film weak, just that it has room to improve. The performances of Janet McTeer and Pat Carroll stand out, and Aiden Qiinn was good as the mountain man who "had seen the world". The musical performances of Emmy Rossum, Iris Dement and Hazel Dickens made my heart soar.
The film opens in Baltimore this week and I'll be there to see it again. The music is wonderful and worth the trip just for that. I only wish there was more of Emmy Rossum and the other music with that Appalachian "edge" on the soundtrack CD, as opposed to the more highly produced songs by more famous people, whose voices/characters did not appear in the film.
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Easily my favorite film of 1997
Unlike 1996, and 1998, for that matter, I found it hard to pick a top ten list in 1997, but the two films far ahead of the others for me were "In The Company Of Men", and, well ahead of that, "The Sweet Hereafter". Both films really got under my skin, albeit in different ways. But what they brought with them to the screen was the assumption that those who were watching had their brains set on "attention".
Atom Egoyan gives us an intelligent, thoughtful film that does not rush us through from start to finish. By the time he's done, the onion has been peeled to many layers and the depths of all the characters well plumbed. Ian Holm, whom I thought delivered the best acting job of 1997, and my favorite role for him since "Dance With A Stranger", does, indeed try to be the Pied Piper to a town that would rather try to put the tragedy behind them and proceed with "business as usual". The town can't, of course, because the accident has changed them far more deeply than they realize. The outsider comes in and lifts up some rocks with his sales pitch to the citizens and lets those deep feelings out into the open.
Egoyan takes his time and gives us a well constructed picture of the town and its dynamics. As deeper explanation is called for, he gives us a view of the history or current "other" activities. This was a fine device for explaining the background of the major characters as well as for keeping the audience very much involved in the flow of the story. It's as though he tells the story in chapters sometimes titled with names and sometimes with events. I thought the pace of this film was right on target for this story, just as I thought all the other parts were on target, too. I can't wait for his new film, due out this year I understand.