Thursday, June 20, 2013
TIME CAPSULE
Today's NYTimes Critics' Pick film was David Chase (The Sopranos)
the loving tribute to a period of time, shared by me, in which everything seemed possible if the world didn't blow up first.
A small town band starts up, works hard, falls apart. In the process we see a way of life and a time that time has almost forgot.
All told with the story of the music of the time.
Not a puzzle to see Steve VanZandt as a producer.
But it is not about a particular band. Not even one that is successful.
While the kids do their thing and grow up, the parents grumble, the television plays us everything from the Kennedy assassination, Martin Luther King and Twilight Zone. Duck and Cover. The advent of "hippies". Marijuana. Real Lemon. The power of advertising.
All in the background.
The young stars of this film are perfectly imperfect. The lead, played by charismatic John Magarro, sees into the future. Portents and signs.
We last see him wandering into his own future, without a band, perhaps to film school, perhaps even a kid who becomes a film maker like Chase.
Gotta be autobiographical.
There is even a father son thing here with the estimable James Gandolfini made palpably bittersweet with news of the actors death yesterday.
"Not Fade Away" is a Buddy Holly song covered by everyone else.I was a little older than these kids at their time but not that much older.
I liked it a lot and would be happy to see it again. A 4 out of Netflix5.
Labels: films
