A movie (and a main character) named for a Clash song have to have some redeeming qualities--this is a rock 'n' roll movie about Ethan (Allesandro Nivola), a man on an accelerated downward spiral, angry that his career is not generating enough cash to sustain his band's dive bar tour, much less paying the rent. His long-time manager lets us know that he has bailed Ethan out financially one too many times, and he is unlikely to continue to do so. It is more indie than 'Crazy Heart', with a less talented musician and more stilted dialogue, but it is well worth seeing.
Enter Mary Ann Jones (Elisabeth Shue). She was a band groupie long ago, and Ethan fathered a daughter (Abigail Breslin) with her 13+ years ago. Mary Ann is strung out on meth, and she precipitously leaves Janie for Ethan to care for. Not the best plan, but on the up side, Janie has been living with an addict, so dealing with her alcoholic, impulsive, angry father isn't a huge stretch for her. there are a lot of awkward moments, some of which seem realistic, others that do not.
Contrivances aside, though, Janie Jones is one of the more realistic depictions of what the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle is really like. No arenas or lavish suites here; it’s all motels and truck-stops and dark clubs in mid-sized cities. The music is on-point, too: Eef Barzelay wrote the songs for Nivola, and Gemma Hayes wrote songs for Breslin, so the concert scenes both look and sound like actual alt-rock shows. And while Nivola has the quality of a man who’s been praised and catered to for years, the actor doesn’t play the character as the conventional egomaniacal celebrity drunk. He’s a talented guy who sometimes makes bad choices--in the end he does make a good choice, to hang on to his daughter.
Saturday, June 16, 2012
Janie Jones (2012)
A movie (and a main character) named for a Clash song have to have some redeeming qualities--this is a rock 'n' roll movie about Ethan (Allesandro Nivola), a man on an accelerated downward spiral, angry that his career is not generating enough cash to sustain his band's dive bar tour, much less paying the rent. His long-time manager lets us know that he has bailed Ethan out financially one too many times, and he is unlikely to continue to do so. It is more indie than 'Crazy Heart', with a less talented musician and more stilted dialogue, but it is well worth seeing.
Enter Mary Ann Jones (Elisabeth Shue). She was a band groupie long ago, and Ethan fathered a daughter (Abigail Breslin) with her 13+ years ago. Mary Ann is strung out on meth, and she precipitously leaves Janie for Ethan to care for. Not the best plan, but on the up side, Janie has been living with an addict, so dealing with her alcoholic, impulsive, angry father isn't a huge stretch for her. there are a lot of awkward moments, some of which seem realistic, others that do not.
Contrivances aside, though, Janie Jones is one of the more realistic depictions of what the rock ’n’ roll lifestyle is really like. No arenas or lavish suites here; it’s all motels and truck-stops and dark clubs in mid-sized cities. The music is on-point, too: Eef Barzelay wrote the songs for Nivola, and Gemma Hayes wrote songs for Breslin, so the concert scenes both look and sound like actual alt-rock shows. And while Nivola has the quality of a man who’s been praised and catered to for years, the actor doesn’t play the character as the conventional egomaniacal celebrity drunk. He’s a talented guy who sometimes makes bad choices--in the end he does make a good choice, to hang on to his daughter.
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