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.
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.