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Bookmark this pageHoneydripper (2007)
Director: John Sayles
Movie review
From Time Out London
Harmony, Alabama, 1950: hard times have hit the Honeydripper saloon. Proprietor Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover) is staking his bets on one Guitar Sam, who Ty – hoping to win back the young crowd lost to the jukebox over at the Ace of Spades – has booked to replace his elderly blues chanteuse on Saturday night, when Sam’s set to pass through town. But first Tyrone needs money for beer, electricity… and the guitar man.Like all Sayles’ films, this bluesy ensemble piece is firmly grounded in time and place; his exploration of the textures of everyday life in the postwar Deep South – not just the politics of race, but religion, sexuality, work, the law, commerce and culture, most especially music – is illuminating in its detail, and authentic in dialogue and characterisation. There’s a host of lovely performances from a superb cast – including Charles S Dutton, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Lisa Gay Hamilton and Mary Steenburgen – immaculately lit camerawork from Dick Pope, and a stirring tribute to the power of music. Oh, and Glover is great.
Author: Geoff Andrew
Time Out London Issue 1968, May 8-14, 2008
User reviews of this film
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- andy said...
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Posted on May 26 2008 18:53
My God, this is tedious. You spend the whole film waiting for the electric guitar to be plugged in, then you only get three brief snatches. The acting is wooden, dialogue and story corrny (and reliant on some really dodgy stereotypical racial and sexual politics). What is it about these revered liberal film-makers - nobody can bring themselves to say they're living off past glories (we have our own examples in Mike Leigh and Ken Loach)?
Give this one a loud miss (or prepare to fall asleep like I did. - Report as inappropriate
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- Chris said...
- Posted on May 24 2008 22:11 Cheesy, cheesy, cheesy. No surprises in the story, bad acting and even the three or four music pieces in the film weren't that great.
- Report as inappropriate
Cast & crew
Director: John Sayles
Cast: Gary Clark Jr., Danny Glover, Charles S Dutton, Mary Steenburgen, Stacy Keach, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Keb' Mo, Yaya DaCosta full cast
Genre(s): Drama
Rated: PG
Duration: 123 mins
UK Release: May 9 2008
US Release: Dec 28 2007
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