Review of The Music Never Stopped (2011) by Nik B — 22 Mar 2011

The guy who brought us "Awakenings" also brought us this uplifting brain-drain medecine drama. Gabriel's parents receive word that the son they haven't seen in 20 years is in a hospital. He's an amnesiac with a big-ass tumor and a big-ass beard which no one will shave, because the filmmakers want you to know the difference in present day vs. the flashbacks.

Gabriel and his parents are all nice, but they don't really have any connection. It's been twenty years for the parents and Gabe's head is stuck in the 1960s pre-tumor. Dad finds out that music might be a bridge in regaining old memory. And boy does it. What follows is a '60s music lovefest. This is where Gabe, played by Leo Taylor Pucci, comes alive. He literally jumps like a kid again and expresses his memories of that song and its place in his life.

And too, his father, the always great JK Simmons, who has the added complexity of having to come familiar with the music his son loved in order to connect with him; while having to overcome the issues with believing it was this music that poisoned his son and took him away in the first place.

If you have parents or children you will certainly cry somewhere in this movie. The music and the actors do a fantastic job at connecting you to the story. I knocked it down in my rating because it's unfortunately written and directed like a tv movie. The flashbacks especially paint the easiest pictures of Gabe's life that could've been captured. I'm sure they weren't so face-valued and cliched, but the story wasn't given as much thought as the soundtrack.