So there we were all in a row, the whole family, waiting to view our 2004 Thanksgiving movie (when the gang gets together each year, we all go out together to a movie). We were surrounded by families and little kids, and the previews were for little kids. The youngest of our 'little kids' were the 18 year old twins! So I'm thinking, "uh oh....but we like anything Tom Hanks does so let's wait and see." By the end of the movie I had been swept away, thoroughly enjoyed myself, tasted the beauty of redemption and hope, and thought to myself "I could watch that again, right now, and certainly each Christmas." Put it on the top shelf with It's a Wonderful Life. And, remember, that movie got panned by the critics at first, too.
Reviews
2 Reviews
Songcatcher
(2000)
It's the Music
31 December 2004
I think we learned about Songcatcher via Netflix about three years ago during the O, Brother Where Art Thou and Down From the Mountain excitement.
As a movie it was lacking something; all the pieces were there but it didn't quite sizzle. The reason for this, I think, was the way they shot the film: it was 'too pretty' and therefore unreal, especially for representing lives in the mountains of North Carolina during the timeframe of the movie, so the viewer was sort of outside looking in.
That said, however, we LOVED the music and the opening up of the roots of mountain music, and that's why I gave it an '8'. There is something so deep and true about that stream of American music, mainly I think because most of it is birthed in hardship. Anyway this movie was one piece of our growing love affair with this sort of music, especially on the mountain gospel side of things, all the way to the present day with Ollabelle, and the Anonymous Four (American Angels).
And to first have encountered Emmy Rossum here and then just recently enjoying her performance in Phantom of the Opera is a real treat. She's got the gifts and I look forward to following her career, especially the development of her acting since her voice already speaks for itself.
As a movie it was lacking something; all the pieces were there but it didn't quite sizzle. The reason for this, I think, was the way they shot the film: it was 'too pretty' and therefore unreal, especially for representing lives in the mountains of North Carolina during the timeframe of the movie, so the viewer was sort of outside looking in.
That said, however, we LOVED the music and the opening up of the roots of mountain music, and that's why I gave it an '8'. There is something so deep and true about that stream of American music, mainly I think because most of it is birthed in hardship. Anyway this movie was one piece of our growing love affair with this sort of music, especially on the mountain gospel side of things, all the way to the present day with Ollabelle, and the Anonymous Four (American Angels).
And to first have encountered Emmy Rossum here and then just recently enjoying her performance in Phantom of the Opera is a real treat. She's got the gifts and I look forward to following her career, especially the development of her acting since her voice already speaks for itself.
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