Ryan McNeil
This is my 1,000th post on The Matinee.
In honour of such a swell occasion, I wanted to do something fun. As many of you know by now, I only write full-on reviews for films I watch in a theatre. My dvd coverage on the other hand tends to be noted in features like DVD Doubleback or Back to Basics
However, I thought it’d be fun to celebrate 1000 posts by zeroing in on a film that speaks to me quite a bit. A film that I love dearly and have identified with for a lot of reasons.
So whether you’re reading this blog for the first time, or have been doing so all the way from the very first post, I thank you dearly for reading, and offer the conclusion of yesterday’s discussions on favorites. After the jump, please take a peek at a review of my all-time favorite film – ALMOST FAMOUS.
Many moons ago, before I was the movie geek I was the music geek. I was the guy who always had a wallet of at least 12 cd’s in his bag. I was the guy who always wore the doufy looking headphones. I knew the lyrics of most of the big hits, and could hum all the other ones. So it’s no small surprise that at the height of this, just after my 22nd birthday, a movie that begins with the sound of a needle dropping into a spinning record would win my heart.
For the uninitiated, Cameron Crowe’s ALMOST FAMOUS is a semi-autobiographical tale. In the film, fifteen-year-old William Miller (Patrick Fugit) catches a lucky bounce when Rolling Stone magazine offers him a chance to write for them. Miller is dispatched to cover an up-and-coming band named Stillwater on their 1973 American tour.
The movie is an endearing love letter to rock and roll, so it isn’t difficult to understand why it became my favourite. But as I rewatched it for the umpteenth time to prep for this post, I was struck for the first time by a detail that keeps it on the top of my own Hot 200. Even though I am more than double William Miller’s age, I can’t help but connect to him and his struggles to become a critic.
Elvis Costello once said that writing about music was like dancing about architecture…but that doesn’t mean that there aren’t some pretty talented architectural dancers out there. Of course, the same applies to writing about movies too. Yes, like William, I am piggybacking on someone else’s artistic expressions to make my own artistic expression. However, I believe there is a role for witnesses like William to play, and it goes beyond flying on borrowed wings.
I identify with William’s outlook in ALMOST FAMOUS the same way that he identifies with Atticus Finch’s honesty in TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. William represents the precise middle ground between Penny Lane’s adoring fandom, and Lester Bang’s crusty cynicism. He wants to be an evangelist – to gather believers to the church of rock & roll. However, he won’t be a false prophet. He’ll spread the good news of a band like Stillwater, but only so far as they earn it.
This film explores the wonderful see-saw rhythm that takes place between young artists and young media. They need each other, feed off each other, and really can’t exist without each other. William nestles into the corner of a dressing room thinking that he doesn’t belong there, and I can certainly relate to the feeling that one has wandered into a whole other world. What William doesn’t know, is that like many rising stars, Stillwater is equally nervous of him…trembling at the notion that he can point out just how cool they aren’t.
Take all of that and set it to one of the greatest soundtracks of all time, and it’s no wonder that a music, movie, and writing geek like myself considers this film his favourite. There’s some small part of me that would love to be Lester Bangs’ protege. To write with his honesty, but be a counterpoint to his pessimism. I do believe, as Bangs points out, that “the only currency in this bankrupt world, is the truth you share when you’re uncool”. Perhaps because as many of you well know, I’m pretty damned uncool myself.
But no matter how uncool I manage to be, I remain a believer in music. I dig music. I’m here because of the music. I measure my life in playlists, and will never forget where I was when a certain song came on. I try to tip-toe along the line between fan and critic, but hope that I will never lose the enthusiasm required to run behind a departing plane waving goodbye.
That attitude hasn’t changed in the ten years since I first saw this film on a Friday night in September with my dear friend Amanda Lee. It’s what continues to draw me to this film, and has put it on a shelf for me that no film has even come close to reaching. It reminds me, to paraphrase this wonderful script, about what it is to be a fan; to love some silly piece of music…some band…or indeed some film, so much that it hurts.
I can definitely see where you’re coming from, Ryan, but that’s the thing – I just didn’t relate in the same way to the film like you did. But, I did very much enjoy reading this review, and I can understand how a film like this can hit an audience hard.
While music has been a huge part of my life, as a kid (and even as a young adult), I’ve somewhat missed out on that love relationship with rock ‘n roll, which also made this movie a little hit or miss for me.
Perhaps my biggest complaint with the film is my biggest complaint with most all Cameron Crowe films – disjointedness. Sometimes it felt like scenes were tacked on, or put in a place it didn’t belong, or went on for too long. I’m as big of a CC fan as they come (I mean, I got the director to tweet me back!). One of his movies is one of my favorites films of all time (Elizabethtown).
I will say this–I loved the ending. I thought it was brilliantly written and completely in tune with the title of the film, which is also something I admire about the film.
And that’s the great thing about film–different ones hit us different ways, and even a decade down the line, they have the same kind of impact on us that they did years ago. That’s why I love film so much, even though what I like is often different from what others like. It influences people in such different, even unexpected ways sometimes. OK, I’m done now. Anyways, great review. I genuinely enjoyed reading it.
P.S. If you didn’t know it already, CC’s site is called “The Uncool.” Check it: http://www.theuncool.com/
I have a hunch that a love for rock & roll at some time in one’s life is crucial for really giving onesself over to this movie – and by that I mean a true love of music. “So much that it hurts” to paraphrase Sapphire.
I am curious about your note of disjointedness. Did you watch the director’s cut first, because as much as I love that edit, there are a lot of extra odds and sods in that version that are unnecessary. All the same, some disjointedness is expected, given that the crux of the film is the blurry, crazy world of a rock tour.
For me, the way all of those oddball, bleary, kooky moments are haphazardly stitched together is what makes the film so special. It’s art about the critic who experiences the art firsthand and can only convey it with big gaps of “you had to be there”.
Oh, and if you think CC tweeting you is awesome (which it totally is), you’d probably die if I told you who I spoke to in an elevator last September.
It is a great rock and roll movie, undoubtedly. But I love it more I think for the coming of age angle. I guess the proper way to put it is that I love the fact that the movie delivers both simultaneously, without robbing either aspect of its effectiveness.
Its a great movie. A real heartwarmer. Makes me feel good whenever I watch it.
I’m definitely with you on the coming of age angle. In that respect, I think I saw it at just the right time in my life.
As I mention in the post though, nowadays I latch on even more to the budding critic part of the story…an angle I never thought I’d find so relatable!
Thanks for reading buddy.