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tseib
Reviews
A Love Song (2022)
The landscape is the star
This is a melancholy, impressionistic movie about aging, loss, and the mystery of solitude. While the story line is simple and thin, the handful of characters who inhabit it convey the ambiguity and uneasiness of real life so naturalistically that it almost feels like a documentary. Not all viewers will be interested in experiencing this level of lonely introspection set amid the stark barrenness of the American west, waiting for "something to happen." But another type of viewer will find the relative wildness of the setting calming, reminding us of our own actual journeys and mental escapes into the almost incomprehensibly large landscape of this part of the country--a place where you can be both undisturbed and nearly forgotten. And in this movie the landscape itself seems to be an inquisitor, stripping bare civilized pretensions and routines with the oppressive gravity of solitude and unlimited time. Aside from being drawn with laughably impossible mechanical skills, the lead female character comes across as both frighteningly realistic and distinctly unappealing. Though she shows positive traits like self-sufficiency, curiosity, and generosity, she also seems uncomfortable in her own skin--making the viewer squirm and wonder if she's always been this way or whether grief and advancing age have made her so tense and enigmatic. The pacing and feel of the thing is so sober and bare-bones that it's surprising to find a touch of Wes Anderson in some of the incidental characters who momentarily break the silence.
The Song (2014)
Powerful and artful
Movies with Christian themes often have an undefinable cheesy quality--a non-realism reflecting the righteous ideals and high-minded puritanism of their creators. I found "The Song" to mostly avoid that tendency--though the idea that this couple didn't even kiss until they were married seems like a stretch, as does Rose's sudden shock upon discovering that cumulative years away on the show-biz circuit have taken a toll on her husband's morals. But those details aside, this is a solid tale of human weakness--the slow, soul-crushing compromises that can overwhelm us in work and relationships--and redemption. The music is excellent, the acting is convincing, and the quality of cinematography is superb. My favorite touch is the periodic and highly appropriate voice-overs from the Old Testament's Song of Solomon and what must be Proverbs or Ecclesiastes. Paired with dramatic imagery that illustrates our inescapable humanity in modern times, these ancient words are poetic and haunting, leaving you on a knife's edge between hope and despair at the human condition. In fact, I find the three-minute introductory section that illustrates the downfall of Jed's father to be one of the most powerful and moving passages in cinematic history. Seriously, the way it is shot and the story it tells in such concise form makes a profound statement on marital infidelity and literally gives me chills with its artful combination of visual storytelling and words of ancient wisdom. I am truly baffled as to why this didn't become a bigger hit.