SONG ONE

Review: A young woman falls in love with her brother’s favourite musician who her brother idolized after he was involved in a terrible accident that put him in a coma.
Director: Kate Barker-Froyland
Actors: Anne Hathaway, Johnny Flynn, Mary Steenburgen, Lola Kirke, Li Jun Li, Sarah Steele, Sharon Van Etten, Grace Rex, Gideon Glick, Al Thompson, Shawn Parsons, Peter Francis James, Kitty Crystal and Jessamine Kelley
Year: 2014
Genre: Drama, Music and Romance
Conclusion: 2/5
Don’t get me wrong, I love Anne Hathaway and Johnny Flynn, but I felt that they were both a bit wasted in this film. I felt it didn’t really hold together as a full feature length film. Anne Hathaway and Johnny Flynn didn’t really seem comfortable with each other and felt there was very little chemistry between them both which was a shame. It is a film that could have worked. This is Kate Barker-Froyland’s first full feature length film. I have to say that I wasn’t impressed with the directing and thought it needed a lot of extra work. Also, I wasn’t that impressed with the script writing of this film. What I picked up on though was that Anne Hathaway had gone away and got herself a successful job and on the other hand her brother didn’t even want to go to college. I got the feeling that she felt she was therefore more important than her own brother. There were plots in the story – for instance the brother kept a book of notes – but this was never really developed into the storyline. Also, I think that the title for this film doesn’t actually mean anything and in my view it is a very hard title to remember. The film at the end just stopped and I felt there was no conclusion or explanation. It was nothing like as good as the John Carney trilogy that he did which was Once (2007), Begin Again (2013) and Sing Street (2016). The steel guitar that James Forester is using is actually Johnny Flynn’s own guitar. What I enjoyed most about this film was Johnny Flynn’s singing and the music. At the end of the film, I almost felt that there could be a sequel to this film called Song Two!!