This is a good film. I had never heard of it before last week. It's about a boy (he's 15) who wants to be a rock journalist (this is set in 1973) and is thrilled to meet a real rock journalist, who sees his sincerity and gives him an assignment - a kind of subcontract. But the boy manages to bond with the band he's meant to write about - a medium popular rock band on tour in a bus - and gets a better offer, from Rolling Stone magazine. From then on he's trying to get an interview with people he's beginning to know very well - too well.
This sounds as though there are no parts in it for women, and this isn't the case. The boy's mum has some great lines. She's very intelligent and tough, and she keeps repeating "Don't take drugs!" She phones him from however many miles away to repeat this stricture to him, and one of the hooks of the film is to see whether, and how far, the boy falls away from her values. The other great female part is a beautiful groupie played by Kate Hudson. She has never looked so beautiful. She is original and witty too, and she sees her role in the music scene as being an inspiration for great music.The main man in the band is the gorgeous Billy Crudup who gets a small dose of William's mother who punctures his vanity with a few well-chosen words - and he says - "she freaked me out, man". And William replies: "She means well."
Here is some dialogue from the middle of the film. The boy is phoning up his mentor, the established music journalist (played by Philip Seymour Hoffman) to get some advice on writing his piece, now that he knows the band personally.
Lester Bangs: Aw, man. You made friends with them. See, friendship is the booze they feed you. They want you to get drunk on feeling like you belong.
William Miller: Well, it was fun.
Lester Bangs: They make you feel cool. And hey. I met you. You are not cool.
William Miller: I know. Even when I thought I was, I knew I wasn't.
Lester Bangs: That's because we're uncool. And while women will always be a problem for us, most of the great art in the world is about that very same problem. Good-looking people don't have any spine. Their art never lasts. They get the girls, but we're smarter.
William Miller: I can really see that now.
Lester Bangs: Yeah, great art is about conflict and pain and guilt and longing and love disguised as sex, and sex disguised as love... and let's face it, you got a big head start.
William Miller: I'm glad you were home.
Lester Bangs: I'm always home. I'm uncool.
William Miller: Me too!
Lester Bangs: The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.
William Miller: I feel better.
Lester Bangs: My advice to you. I know you think those guys are your friends. You wanna be a true friend to them? Be honest, and unmerciful.
Isn't that great? The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you're uncool.
The film actually has a good ending too, thanks to the girl, who is absurdly wise. She is wise in the way that nobody ever is wise. But we can dream!
No comments:
Post a Comment