Directed By Shana Feste
SYNOPSIS
Country superstar Kelly Canter (Gwyneth Paltrow) is in rehab after a drunken meltdown at a concert that lead to the death of her unborn child. While in rehab she meets and romances Beau (Garrett Hedlund) who is an orderly at the facility by day and plays the honky tonks at night. Kelly's husband James (Tim McGraw) springs her from rehab to resume her tour and mend her public image. James has his eye on (in more ways than one) beauty queen Chiles Stanton (Leighton Meester) to open for Kelly. He reluctantly also allows Beau to open for her as well... but Kelly may not be ready to return to the big time.
Hollywood seems to churn out films about musicians with demons like a McDonalds makes burgers.
Walk the Line, Coal Miner's Daughter, Tender Mercies, Crazy Heart to name a few of just the country music takes on this 'troubled musician' genre.
It's a VERY limited genre story-wise. The character either rises to fame or starts out on top and either succeeds or fails to conquer his/her demons. That's it.
Country Strong combats and trumps this limitation by paring up the Kelly Canter story with Beau's 'destined for fame, but doesn't want it' and Chiles' 'desperately wants fame but lacks the confidence for success' stories. The way these three character arcs interweave and affect each other ultimately makes the film more unique.
Like those films previously mentioned, Country Strong's greatest assets are in its performances. The film is not about country music, but those who make it. You don't have to like country music to enjoy the film. The acting is strong enough to carry it.
I first heard several months ago that Gwyneth Paltrow was going to play a country singer and sing the songs herself. I laughed and said "yeah right, that'll be a mess." Late last summer, I heard a clip of her singing the title track and I soon found myself trying to lift my jaw from my desk. Paltrow as a country singer is a revelation. Her portrayal of Kelly is another one of her great roles. Kelly's relationship with James, her husband/manager, echos Coal Miner's Daughter. Paltrow is never able to completely escape the cliched 'troubled musician' but does bring enough freshness to make Canter a compelling character.
Sounding just as amazing as Paltrow (or even more so) is Garrett Hedlund. He reportedly never sang or played guitar before tackling this role but you would never know. He sounds like he'd been doing this for years. Beau is complex but likable and come across as a three-dimensional and very real person as opposed to an actor playing a part. At the same time, he's also the heart and soul of the film. It's one of Hedlund's best roles and likewise he turns in the best performance of his career so far.
The songs Paltrow and Hedlund perform, along with Leighton Meester, are mostly new, but could easily become hits and maybe even classics, if radio picks them up. Unfortunately the soundtrack album features so few of the songs performed in the film by the actors (4 by Paltrow and 1 each by Hedlund and Meester.) Thankfully, iTunes compiles many of these overlooked tracks in a More Music From Country Strong album.
The best thing I can say about the film is that it makes me want to take up the guitar and go hit the road singin' country(and avoiding the pitfalls)... and for someone who's not a die-hard country fan... that's sayin' something.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment