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SONG ONE
Fans of Anne Hathaway will definitely have a head start with 2014's Song One, a lethargic and voyeuristic drama made watchable primarily due to its star.
The Oscar winner plays a woman named Franny who has been studying abroad who returns to the states when she learns her estranged brother Henry (Ben Rosenfield) is in a coma after being hit by a car. Upon her return, Franny's effort to learn what was current in her brother's life led her to the discovery of his favorite musician, a new age folk singer named James Forrester, with whom Franny actually begins to have a relationship.
This indie project for director and screenwriter Kate Barker-Froyland shows definite promise, though I think her directing is slightly superior to her writing...the screenplay is slow and spotty and focuses a little too much on Franny's relationship with Forrester, which doesn't make a lot of sense since Franny doesn't know anything about him or his relationship and the fact that he is currently having writer's block should have motivated Franny to back off a little. On the other hand, despite his writer's block, Forrester seems to be in demand as a performer, even though the level of his fame is never really made clear. It seemed odd that Franny had never heard of the guy but her mother, beautifully played by Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen, had.
Surprisingly, the portions of the story that concentrated on Franny's vigil at her brother's bedside, her conversations with him and other attempts to connect in some way to motivate his awakening, were absolutely riveting and I wish the story concentrated a little more on this part of the story than Franny's relationship with Forrester, which just came off as forced as convincing.
Despite the problematic screenplay, Barker-Froyland pulls a charismatic performance from Anne Hathaway that kept me invested in what was going on and I also loved Steenburgen as the mother, still partially living in the past and trying to mend fences with her daughter. Johnny Flynn tries to keep the Forrester character viable but it's difficult. Maybe with someone a little more well known than Flynn might have made the screenplay, as presented, a little more viable; however, as it stand, the performances of two Oscar winning actresses make this a project worth checking out.
Fans of Anne Hathaway will definitely have a head start with 2014's Song One, a lethargic and voyeuristic drama made watchable primarily due to its star.
The Oscar winner plays a woman named Franny who has been studying abroad who returns to the states when she learns her estranged brother Henry (Ben Rosenfield) is in a coma after being hit by a car. Upon her return, Franny's effort to learn what was current in her brother's life led her to the discovery of his favorite musician, a new age folk singer named James Forrester, with whom Franny actually begins to have a relationship.
This indie project for director and screenwriter Kate Barker-Froyland shows definite promise, though I think her directing is slightly superior to her writing...the screenplay is slow and spotty and focuses a little too much on Franny's relationship with Forrester, which doesn't make a lot of sense since Franny doesn't know anything about him or his relationship and the fact that he is currently having writer's block should have motivated Franny to back off a little. On the other hand, despite his writer's block, Forrester seems to be in demand as a performer, even though the level of his fame is never really made clear. It seemed odd that Franny had never heard of the guy but her mother, beautifully played by Oscar winner Mary Steenburgen, had.
Surprisingly, the portions of the story that concentrated on Franny's vigil at her brother's bedside, her conversations with him and other attempts to connect in some way to motivate his awakening, were absolutely riveting and I wish the story concentrated a little more on this part of the story than Franny's relationship with Forrester, which just came off as forced as convincing.
Despite the problematic screenplay, Barker-Froyland pulls a charismatic performance from Anne Hathaway that kept me invested in what was going on and I also loved Steenburgen as the mother, still partially living in the past and trying to mend fences with her daughter. Johnny Flynn tries to keep the Forrester character viable but it's difficult. Maybe with someone a little more well known than Flynn might have made the screenplay, as presented, a little more viable; however, as it stand, the performances of two Oscar winning actresses make this a project worth checking out.