The 27 Club

Sometimes you just get lost and loose hope. It seems musicians, successful or not are a very complicated group of people. I have known several hundred including my family. There is a lot of truth to this movie ,and humans in general. I get it, when your done, your done. It's the people that love you that have to find understanding and not make it about them. The movie may not be for everyone but it certainly is a good realistic walk down suicides dark road. Life is challenging and people think that fame and fortune is perfect. It's not unless you have been around millionaires and billionaires you will never understand. People demand a lot from musicians and when you have nothing more offer what's left?

I had the good fortune to watch the movie's world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival 2008. It's a moving, thoughtful and yet highly entertaining movie with incredibly gorgeous cinematography.

This is not your same old same old "road trip movie" nor is it one of the well known stories about a band. It's a little bit different and even surprising at times.

The only flaw I can see in this movie is the last quarter of the movie which seems a bit too constructed and maybe even a bit rushed. Then again, the ending is really well chosen and makes you leave the movie with on an upbeat note.

The acting is great. Joe Anderson is fantastic! He's able to show the difference nuances of his character and to transport what's haunting and driving him. The rest of the cast is believable and convincing too. It's a true character driven story which never gets boring.

I highly recommend it to anyone who's in for 85 minutes with gorgeous pictures, great music, honest feelings and fantastic acting. Kudos to everybody and especially Erica Dunton! Love this movie.

Quick review: The film chronicles the road trip of a distraught musician, Elliot, and a hired- driver, Three Words. (Named three words because all of his lines, I believe, consist of only three words). Elliot's best friend, and band-mate, just died of a cocaine overdose and joined the infamous 27 club. This is, of course, the name given to all of the celebrities who died tragically at the age of 27. Along the road trip, the two meet a nice Irish girl who accompanies them to Montana, and eventually New York to attend the deceased's funeral. Everything really comes together in this film, and makes it a true indie masterpiece. Joe Anderson's portrayal of a struggling musician is captivating, and he is complemented by fantastic performances from David P. Emrich and Jimmy Hager. Along with that, the stunning cinematography, fantastic direction, and original screenplay are really a formula for perfection. If you want a touching, thought-provoking, moving film, I highly recommend The 27 Club.

Points for originality here but that's about it. Subpar acting, disjointed storytelling and the murkiest most annoying sound mixing you will ever encounter. So bad it's hard to get through it, but I did. There's worse out there but there's so much more that's better. Next time the production team should focus less on trying to be unique and more on trying to be palatable.

I was asked to attend "The 27 Club" at the Tribeca Movie Festival by a friend who was interested in the movie. Honestly, I was not overly excited about what I thought would be another drug-focused rock and roll movie.

I was pleasantly surprised to find myself tied to the characters who were slowly developed through the movie. By the end, I truly was hoping that Eliot would find his purpose in life. I thought Joe Anderson did an amazing job with the character of Eliot.

David Emrich also played the character of "Three Words" very well. The novel concept of only speaking in three words was never annoying as you might think it would be...it was actually intriguing to see how things would be answered in only three words. I did think that Eliot would eventually ask for his real name...but perhaps that would have ruined calling him Three Words.

All in all, this was a very enjoyable movie with some young and talented actors.