FILM-FORWARD.COMReviews of Recent Independent, Foreign, & Documentary Films in Theaters and DVD/Home Video
Directed by: Shainee Gabel. Produced by: Rob Yari, R. Paul Miller & David Lancaster. Written by: Shainee Gabel, based on the novel, Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps. Director of Photography: Elliot Davis. Edited by: Lee Percy & Lisa Fruchtman. Music by: Nathan Larson. Released by: Lions Gate. Country of Origin: USA. 119 min. Rated: R. With: John Travolta, Scarlett Johansson, Gabriel Macht & Deborah Kara Unger.
A Love Song for Bobby Long opens with a barely recognizable John
Travolta preparing to leave a bar in the middle of a sunny New Orleans
afternoon. Gray-haired, hunched over, and
carrying a bottle of alcohol in a brown bag, this is not the
swaggering or presidential Travolta we're used to seeing. Men drinking themselves to an
impending death is nothing new (see Leaving Las Vegas, Happy
Hour, etc.), and Travolta is the latest to step into the shoes of a
character who's been ravaged not only by alcohol, but also by a defeated
spirit.
A former literature professor, Bobby has been living a somewhat reclusive
life with his thirty-something protégé, Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), in the
dilapidated home of Lorraine, where they're almost always drunk. However when Lorraine passes away, her prodigal daughter,
18-year-old Pursy (Scarlett Johansson), shows up to reclaim her childhood
home. Since Bobby and Lawson really have nowhere else to go, they keep
secret the lawyers' letters notifying Pursy she is the rightful and
sole owner of the house. Instead, they tell her Lorraine gave them the right
to live there. Pursy angrily refuses to leave the house; the three
reluctantly agree to live under the same roof.
Set in the mythic South, characters spend their days singing by the river or lounging about
reading literature. One has to ask how Bobby and Lawson get by with no
income. And for men so well-read and sharp-witted - even after all they've
consumed - it is surprising that Bobby and Lawson, unlike the audience,
don't see a revelation coming. But a stunning Scarlett Johansson completely
holds her own here against Travolta’s showy performance. Hers is a
subtle and heartfelt performance. This is a coming of age tale both for the actress and her
character. Tanya Chesterfield
|