Greetings from Tim Buckley

The problem is: how would you like to hear more than one hour of Tim Buckley's songs? What do you think about him as a singer and songwriter?

This movie is beautifully made, I doubt that anybody could have done better than Dan Algrant in representing the doomed story of the two Buckleys, their art and their songs.

But if you don't like their music you will find the film boring. If you love the music, on the contrary, you will love the movie too. And if you don't know where to stand (just like me) you will patiently watch and appreciate that films like the present one, obviously destined to a small market niche, are still made.

Before watching 'Greetings from Tim Buckley' I'd never heard of either Tim Buckley (a folk singer in the 1960/70s) nor his son Jeff (a folk rock singer in the 1990s), so approached the film with no pre-conceptions, treating it almost as a work of fiction (with apologies to the Buckleys' fans). The plot (based, of course, on real-life events) surrounds rehearsals for a Tim tribute concert, at which his son Jeff is due to perform. It provides lots of human-interest drama, as Jeff reacts to other people's admiration of a father he barely knew. I cannot judge how accurate the portrayals of the two Buckleys are, but certainly, after ten minutes of Penn Badgley's nervy, twitchy performance as Jeff I was ready to give him a jolly good slapping. But the film did not seem to last as long as its 99 minute running time; always a good sign!

A gentle, touching film about young musician Jeff Buckley, 3 years before his break out (and only) album "Grace" traveling to NYC to perform in a tribute concert for his father Tim.

Having never known his father, but living in his shadow, and yet gifted with some of the same talent it's an unusual and quietly intimate look at the connections and hurts between fathers and sons, even those who never met.

Penn Badgley does a very nice job not only with the young Jeff's angst, but also his voice, which is not an easy one to capture. Imogen Poots is lovely as a young fan of Jeff's father with whom Tim has a sweet momentary romance. Not all the performances are at the same level, and the film doesn't delve very deep, but seeing a father and son (there are various flashbacks to Tim played by Ben Rosenfeld) at about the same age, so similar and so different is an effective and unique structural concept. The tragedy that both men completed their lives eerily alike, dying far too young, casts a haunting melancholy over it all.

Before watching this movie I had been quite familiar with Jeff Buckley and the album 'Grace' but was not familiar with the story of his father. The scene in the apartment where they are composing 'Grace' - features Jeff playing an an acoustic guitar - a Taylor 800 series (the guitar in the movie looks like an 814c or 814ce from early to mid 2000s… By looking at the fret inlays and the black plastic key tuners). At that time Taylor had stopped using Grover tuners and had started manufacturing their own tuners. So this is very recognizable to musicians. Probably a small point. Otherwise I liked the movie a lot! Bill Sadler and Imogen Poots - excellent casting choices. Very sad indeed what happened to Jeff.

A wasted opportunity. The stories of Tim and Jeff Buckley are both tragic ones: massive talents cut short in their primes. Here was an opportunity to tell their stories in an interesting yet sensitive manner (and throw in some good music to boot!).

The good music is certainly there, but the interesting story is not. This movie just seems to meander aimlessly, and end up not really making a point. Many scenes just seem like padding, not really developing the characters or plot and just taking up time.

There is a degree of sensitivity, but maybe too much. It all just seems so pretentious and punch-pulling.