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ashole26
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The 27 Club (2008)
i hope you get to see this movie.
I was able to see this movie during the Tribeca Film Festival, on May 2 2008.
This is an edited version of my original review, since the original would be too long for this site. Email me if you want to know what's missing.
A little background is necessary for this film to be 100%. But the film can be watched and enjoyed fully without this background. The 27 Club is an urban myth surrounding the deaths of prominent artists whose lives ended at the age of 27 (Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix, etc.) So when you are introduced to the main character of this movie, Elliot (played by Joe Anderson - who deserves an entire review of his own for this one), you can now understand the magnitude of what he is dealing with. His best friend is dead. At 27. They are the same age. No pressure, right? Now this plot can be taken into the realm of cheesiness very easily. Poor, poor rock star who loses his best friend and musical partner. He is so sad, and he hires a geeky grocery store clerk (David Emrich) to drive him across the country for $10,000. This geeky guy has no idea who he is driving, yet this guy is pretty famous already - not even taking into consideration that his mug is all over the news as the word about his partner, Tom (James Forgey) spreads as we as fans and viewers and human beings know that news can.
Some perspective, from my point of view. I am 29. So lets think about this for just a moment, I was born in '79, grew up in the 80s, missed all of the "tragic" musicians of the 1970s. I was in high school in the early 1990s. And my binder, complete with clear pockets, was covered in pictures and album covers and writing in Sharpie all honoring one person, essentially. And that person was Kurt Cobain. And Kurt is a member of this elusive 27 Club. I remember absolutely everything about the day and week he died. It was everywhere.
When the the underlying plot of this movie is revealed, that Tom, a 27 year old rock star in a popular band, has died, of his own hand essentially, the "fan" in me wakes up. "Wait a second...oh wow. Here we go again." is literally what went though my brain. And not in a way that made me not want to watch the movie. Because as soon as I thought that, I am given a background - a beautiful background which helps me follow this journey. And I am not just talking about Joe Anderson here, though he helps, with his beautiful blue eyes that instantly take me back to freshman year of high school, staring at Kurt Cobain on my notebook. What I am referring to is the road trip Elliot is taking - to clear his mind, or clog it, or whatever - you are never blatantly told what he is doing or what his ultimate goal is - which does not come across as frustrating, it comes across as a gorgeous landscape of America and of relationships and the complexity of loss in general.
The 27 Club captures grief in raw form, and the indecision that comes with the first few days after a loss. Its a hard to explain emotion, if you haven't experienced a great loss, but if you have, when Elliot struggles with his own mind, body and soul during these few days, you will feel with him any great loss you have experienced. Joe Anderson is just that good.
I could write a book on this film, but I will not bore you with my rambling on and on. I cannot end this without talking about others in the cast though, because Eve Hewson as Stella is wonderful. She is the young girl hitchhiker that is picked up along this road trip. This verges on spoiler, but I will not elaborate further than this - she recognizes Elliot and her mission matches closely with his, but she never lets on until the time is right. And when it is that time, it brought my first tears during this film. There were a few chin-quivering moments, but this moment brought the tears to the surface. James Forgey as Tom, while not a complicated role on screen, is an iconic role. James, when he is on screen as Tom, attracts the viewer. Not just in his looks, but the ease of which he portrays this character. You just believe it, and know you are watching potential greatness just fade away. I look forward to see this actor in other things in the future. And David Emrich, as Three Words, is in his simplicity, the yin to the yang. But again, not in an obvious and over the top way. You like him, you believe him and want him to grow, while surrounded by all of this complexity that he cannot relate to at all.
Director Erica Dunton spoke at a Q&A following the screening I was privileged to see. She spoke very frankly about the plot of this movie, but when asked about the look of the film, I could sense the passion in her voice. And she achieved her passion - the film looks amazing. America looks amazing, which reinforced to me that no matter how great a loss is to you, you are but a small part of something greater and there is no better way to realize that than to experience that greatness. The 27 Club does that beautifully.