Review of The Music Never Stopped (2011) by Panta O — 27 Oct 2011
Sundance Film Festival is one of the rare ones in the US with some credibility and I love watching movies shown there. This year I saw The Music Never Stopped (directed by Jim Kohlberg), but I waited with the review a little bit. This was Kohlberg's directorial debut from a script by Gwyn Lurie and Gary Marks and it started really well but somehow lost the rhythm after a while.
If you are a fan of the music from the 60' or 70's this is a must for you... but you'll have to put up with the often static style of directing which follows a predictable trajectory.
Based on Oliver Sacks' essay "The Last Hippie", this movie is trying to explore the father-son relationship between Henry Sawyer (J.K. Simmons) and his son, Gabriel (Lou Taylor Pucci), who suffers from a brain tumor that prevents him from forming new memories. Henry, with his son unable to shed light on their strained relationship, must connect with him through music, and the fine performance of J.K. Simmons helped us to understand that dad's taste in music (which used to be "their" music) didn't imprint on Gabe beyond his grade school and that a new "bridge" needed to be built!
And the "bridge" was built by the Grateful Dead!
Powerful start, good music but somehow the movie never finds its own "soul" and follows mediocre tempo.
This review of The Music Never Stopped (2011) was written by Panta O on 27 Oct 2011.
The Music Never Stopped has generally received positive reviews.
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