UNFINISHED SONG (2013)

Rated: PG-13

Stars: Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston

Director: Paul Andrew Williams

Genre: Comedy/ Drama/ Musical 


Arthur (Terence Stamp) is a cranky old Brit.  He's cranky with his wife, Marion, (Vanessa Redgrave) who is in ill health and not long for this world. And he's especially cranky with their son, James,  (Christopher Eccleston) a rather hapless sort who needs to be prodded to come and sit with his mother while Arthur tends to other things. Arthur and son don't get on with each other-- they've never really been that close, apparently, but there is no background provided on why that might be. 

Marion, in her waning days,  is a member of a senior citizen glee club led by Elizabeth, (Gemma Arterton) a perky young woman who thinks it's cute to get them to sing hi-hop and other semi-modern songs like, "Let's Think About Sex" (baybeeee) and have them do the robot. We learn next to nothing about her though, except for the one time when she gets weepy about a broken relationship. 

The pensioners are all sort of cute in their ineptness, as one and then another gets carted away after pulling or straining something.  And while they have lots of on-screen time, they are all just extras, really, because besides Marion, none are even partially developed as characters. And therein we have the main flaw of Unfinished Song--the lack of character development (other than the shining performances of Stamp and Redgrave)--providing and unintended irony to the film's title. 

In the beginning, the plot centers around Marion's stiff upper lip in the face of her terminal diagnosis.  When she passes on, Unfinished Song becomes Arthur's story--a tale of redemption in how choir director Elizabeth gradually brings him out of his shell to get on with the business of living--getting involved with the choir himself as they prepare for a big competition they've been invited to participate in.

There will be plenty of moist eyes in the theater when the emotionally manipulative Unfinished Song  is finished. The most effective films manipulate you, but you don't mind because what they're doing isn't all that obvious and it takes you by surprise--like a marionette performance where you don't notice the strings.  In Unfinished Song, however, those strings are clearly visible.  


Grade:  B --

JILL'S TAKE

For me, one of the most highly satisfying things in life is when you suddenly hear a favorite oldie on the radio – a song you used to play over and over again in your youth. Well that happened to me in UNFINISHED SONG. Emotionally manipulated or not, Billy Joel's "Lullaby (Goodnight, My Angel)" has been one of my all-time favorites since it first appeared on the scene in his album titled 'River of Dreams" (1993). After seeing UNFINISHED SONG through "moist eyes," I went home and promptly got on YouTube to uncover the story of what motivated Joel to pen such an incredible masterpiece. According to him, he wrote the song for his daughter who was six at the time. It was his way of answering that age-old question all kids ask their parents at some point: "What happens when you die, Daddy?"

As for UNFINISHED SONG... Here is my prediction: Terence Stamp will garner an Oscar nomination for his stellar performance. He's played some interesting characters in previous films (from a transsexual in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert to an English vigilante in The Limey). But his role as an unlikeable/likeable curmudgeon in SONG is by far his most challenging to date. I realize it's early to be talking Academy Awards. Still. There's always one early release every year that offers viewers a tour de force on film. (Inglorious Basterds was released nine months before voting began and even then we all knew Christoph Waltz would walk away with a Best Supporting Actor award.) Speaking of which, I'd also give "Lullaby" a Best Song Award. Only it probably won't qualify since it wasn't written specifically for this film.

GRADE: A

YES MAN

Yes Man is a formulaic romantic comedy--but the formula, which is to turn Jim Carrey loose for all of the pratfalls and spasmodic creativity he's noted for--works splendidly in a script where just about anything goes.

Carrey is Carl Allen, a man mired in negativity. He's reeling from his recent divorce, and his career is going nowhere. He avoids socializing with his friends--he'd rather hang out at the video store.(I can identify with that!) Then he finds himself at a seminar run by a fanatical guru named Terrence (Terence Stamp) who exhorts his followers to say YES to every possibility. Carl drinks the Kool-Aid, and his personality is transformed.

This is where the laughs get rolling.

Because he can't say no, Carl gives a ride to a homeless guy. (I won't reveal what happens, but it's one of the quirky/funnier scenes in the movie.) Carl ends up out of gas and stranded. We'd all view that as being a bummer, but that's when he meets Allison, (Zooey Deschanel) a free-spirit who writes off-beat lyrics and sings with a band. On Allison's motorbike, the two of them embark on a series of adventures and misadventures that will test the limits of Carl's new philosophy and his fledgling romance with Allison.

Deschanel is right for this part--she's just so darn wholesome looking and cute that I am hereby declaring that ZOOEY DESCHANEL IS THE NEW MEG RYAN! (The OLD Meg Ryan still has plenty left in the tank, but she'll have to be replaced eventually.)

There are some interesting philosophical issues in play here. In line with Buddhist thinking is the idea that what may initially be interpreted as an unfortunate occurrence may, in time, turn out to be just the opposite. And something we're going ape-shit with ecstacy over (like Tom Cruise on Oprah's couch) might come back to bite us on the butt, because all of the future ramifications have yet to be revealed.

Brainwashing of any sort--whether it stems from religious dogma or military-style indoctrination that induces one to follow orders blindly and disregard one's own moral or ethical compass--denies the existential responsibility of making up your own mind in compliance with that little thing called your conscience. Saying yes to everything would undoubtedly open up a whole new world of possibilities--but, as Carl soon learns, it also exposes him to those who would take unfair advantage.

Who woulda thunk that a Jim Carrey movie would be this deep?

GRADE: B