The Song

This is one of the better films I've seen on marriage and relationships lately. The film is set in a beautiful vineyard in central Kentucky, and has musical influence from that region. The cinematography is beautiful shot and the best words I can describe it is captivating. I would search for the sound track online and listen to one of the tracks to get a good impression of the genre of the film.

Some of said the story has a typical story-line, but then again, so do most romances (as well as most comic book movies lately produced). What makes a romance compelling is not in the novelty of the ending (any more than a Spiderman movie where Spiderman looses at the end), but what the journey seeks to tell us about love and relationship. This movie has a unique and compelling message to the typical romance. The Christian side is taken mostly from the wisdom parts of the Bible, so really interesting statements about the philosophy of life (and not dogma). I'm really glad I went to see it, and will probably buy the soundtrack when it comes out.

Great story, great acting, great music, great message. You can't go wrong with this one! Its a love story but also has the excitement of music and life on the road. It deals with real life issues with couples and the struggles of relationships. The music scenes alone are worth seeing it. Wonderfully crafted songs with great musicianship and slick performance footage. The cinematography is beautifully done. The three lead actors are new to the craft and pull their rolls of great. "Faith-based" films too often shy away from issues of sex, drugs, drinking, affairs, and marital struggles, but not this one. It hits hard and goes deep. It is layered with parallels to king David's and Solomon's lives, and the narration is straight from Solomon's writings.

I hesitated to watch this movie since it was made by Samuel Goldwyn and not by a Christian Studio. However, to my surprise, I liked it! The main character and his wife are very happy until the husband falls for the oldest trick in the book (by no doubt a very pretty and unscrupulous female). If you don't have a babysitter for your children, please see IMDb's Parent's Guide for movie's cautions, to see if this film is safe for your child to see. The movie is about a Singer, so expect some singing; about six or more partial (not full length) songs. The romance is when the main character and his wife go on a date or two and get married (the wedding night consists of one kiss, in a medium to almost dark bedroom) No sex is seen or heard. No Nudity (I don't count a man without a shirt as nudity). A Drama film with a few intense scenes and a very wise message to whoever gets this movie. We did.

My last review again deviates from the normal blockbuster and instead turns to a lesser advertised movie. Instead of mind numbing action, stupid comedic gestures, or yet another animated movie, this one instead falls in the line of… yes you guessed it the drama. This review is centered on a movie called the Song, who you may have not seen advertised, because I didn't. So let's get down to it and give you the 411 on this cinematic journey as I will call it.

You might be asking what the heck is this movie about? The Song is a tale about a singer, surprise, named Jed King who is in the shadow of his famous father, who has a bit of sinful past. At the promise of not following in his footsteps, Jed puts his religion first in hopes of using that to keep straight. When love and a career begin to develop though, Jed is put to the trial of turning from the sinful life that the world offers.

So where does the Song come in? I wish not to ruin the surprise, but a part of it is that this movie has a lot of soundtrack to it, with a decent number of scenes involving some musical track. If you're a country lover, then you'll be pleased to hear that almost every song is in this genre. Most of the tracks sound exactly the same to me, the twang of the violin and banjo filling your eardrums with the sounds of Kentucky life. This annoyed me as the movie progressed, but mainly because 1. I hate country music, and 2. a majority of the numbers were the same song, only slightly mixing it up about halfway through. Luckily the numbers, for the most part, had a point to the story, often an outlet for the pent up emotions of young Jed, as a means of expressing himself. Some of these numbers made the point, but some of them seemed to be just whining with a certain beat that didn't do much for me.

As I mentioned the music is integrated into the story, but how good was the story in this film. The first aspect is that this movie is a big drama film, filled with the basic plot elements of a soap opera. Right at the start the tale is depressing, filled with a quick bout of adultery, death, redemption, and then more death, and these characters have little involvement in the tale. From there it goes back into the classic set up with a quick set up of romance that last no longer than ten minutes. Once the relationship is set, the real drama begins, which becomes the theme of the entire movie. The second component of the movie is the life lessons taught in the film via internal monologue and dialog between characters. Jed's journey through the stages of his trial is narrated by his thoughts, quoting from some poetry or verse summing up his feelings and actions. At times this is well done, but like everything requires a little balance, instead of beating the dead horse. Despite the delivery of the message, the lessons are grand though, the wise words delivered in such a manner to breach your conscious and make you feel the teachings. Well that, and the fact that Jed continues to make horrible choices, some of which had me saying "You idiot, or No don't do that dummy!" Outside of that though, the story isn't so much complex as simple and drawn out, with very little twist or surprise to the matter. Most of the things you can see coming a mile away, with the only thing keeping me in mystery being the ending. Yet, those that love emotional, tear jerking movies are going to be enthralled most of the movie.

Of course the thing that really brings this movie alive is the acting in the film. Alan Powell takes point in this movie, being the tragic "hero" in this tale. Powell's character has a nice set of pipes, not the best mind you, but decent enough. How much is autotuned? I have no idea, but he does a nice job for the most part. Outside of singing though he plays the emotions of sincere, sad, happy, and angry quite well, but goes a little overboard at times. He can even play the pathetic role quite well, all while looking good, at least from the comments by the female audience members. Overall his acting is good, though I can't say I enjoyed his character the most. Caitlin Nicol-Thomas also does a nice job playing the role she did as well. She's got edge, flare, and plays the wild girl quite well. In both music and acting, the girl brings spice to the picture and offsets the comfort zone the beginning part of the movie sets. Of course of all the cast my favorite is the lovely Ali Faulkner. Not only is this girl beautiful, but I loved her character in the film, and even more how she brought her to life. Faulkner plays the entire spectrum, and brings both wholesome goodness and loyalty to the screen. Of all the characters, I felt she was the one who kept the acting in check, not going overboard with the screaming and crying as some of the others did. My only complaint with her, the depressed sighing got a little old at some points.

The Song is a great teaching movie, and is meant for drama lovers who want that soap opera method. However, if you are looking for something a little more… fulfilling and less preaching, then skip this movie and watch it on Netflix. Just give this picture a try at some point; you may just learn a lesson that will go a long way.

My scores are: Drama/Music/Romance: 7.5 Movie Overall: 6.5

I looked up this movie out of curiosity, once I discovered that Alan Powell -- a former member of Anthem Lights -- had left the group to pursue an acting career, and The Song was his first. Anthem Lights has been my favorite singing group since they debuted their first album. Making the transition from singer to actor doesn't always work, so I wanted to see this movie for myself -- which I did last night.

I had no preconceived ideas or pre-knowledge about this movie. It was interesting, stylistically, to see how the movie unfolded. Fortunately, I was familiar with the story & writings of Solomon, so I was able to track with the movie -- and found it to be creatively & masterfully woven. But someone unfamiliar with Solomon's writings might not understand or enjoy the format. The storyline itself though, is great, and everyone should be able to appreciate the realism of the drama and the life story it tells.

Personally, I was super-impressed (and surprised) by Alan's acting ability -- he is obviously a natural, and belongs on the screen. The entire film was solid -- cinematography, acting, editing, writing. If someone saying this is a "Christian" movie would scare you away, don't let it. I would not really know it was a Christian movie -- just a real movie about life and the true struggles of mankind.