Review of Greetings from Tim Buckley (2013) by Jamie T — 25 Aug 2013

A slowly unfolding character drama that will most-likely not appeal to many movie-goers, Greetings from Tim Buckley is a film about a tribute concert performed in 1991 at St. Ann's Church in Brooklyn, NY, for folk-ish American musician Tim Buckley several years after his premature death at the age of 28 in 1975.

A remarkable thing about Buckley's music is that it was ever-evolving and each of his albums showed an appreciation and influence of a different music styling (funk, jazz, soul, psychedelic rock etc).

Buckley also never found a lot of mainstream, commercial success during his lifetime and the film hints upon that as the concert is given a decade and a half after his death. Tim is shown in flashback as the film mostly focuses upon his son, Jeff (Penn Badgley - "Gossip Girl", Easy A), who made his own "musical debut" at the concert paying tribute to a father he never knew (as him and his mother had more-less been abandoned by him).

Badgely performs and sings all of his own music here ... and he is quite impressive. I have long-believed that Gossip Girl had some talented stars -- namely its two female leads Leighton Meester and Blake Lively.

Greetings from Tim Buckley supports the idea that some of its male stars are also talented actors as Badgely's character struggles with coming to terms with abandonment while also appreciating and understanding an artist who made the tough decisions his father had made many years prior (as he is also making some of these at this same stage in his life).

While preparing for the concert, Jeff bonds with Allie, a young lady (Imogen Poots - A Late Quartet, Jane Eyre) working at the event as she is a devotee of his father's music. Much of the film is musical and these moments are great although they lead to little development of character; but fortunately the film never bites off more than it can chew as it also gives enough time to Jeff to grasp his situation and surroundings and come to terms with his own demons brought about through music and a non-existent fatherly figure others worship.

Knowing Jeff's own fate makes the film even more bittersweet. Buckley fans might rejoice with a Hallelujah over this small-ish film ... I think it gives us just enough to fully appreciate this other talent.

The son ... although pretty-boy actor Badgley does deserve high praise and appreciation for this performance.