Reviews

I really wanted to rate this movie a lot higher than I did but after thinking a little longer I decided that there were just too many disappointments in either the editing or the organization of the concert. "Lightning in a bottle" would be an apt title if they did in fact show the examples from blues history that actually were emblematic of that saying. The most glaring example of having the chance to record, film and honor the greatest modern day blues artist by having him perform one of his earliest numbers instead of his signature song, the song that turned many of the fans in that audience on to the blues in the first place. Another example was the awarding of two of Bobby Bland's songs to a couple of worthy performers (Solomon Burke, who also did a great job on his own "Valley of Tears" and Shemekia Copeland.) They would have done far better to have one of those two, preferably Copeland do "I'll Take Care Of You" where Bland really did catch lightning in a bottle. One more, my own preference would be to have heard Ruth Brown do "Don't Deceive Me" instead of the overly praised "Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean."

Another complaint regarding the choice of music regards the selection of a total unknown, to me, to sing "Strange Fruit," the Billie Holiday classic. The singer did a wonderful job but I don't know of any sub-genre of the blues that would possibly include that song. Additionally the photos accompanying the performance were off-putting to say the least.

For the good parts: Hubert Sumlin, former Muddy Waters sideman was a joy; Bonnie Raitt was excellent performing an Elmore James number; additionally, Honeyboy Edwards, Buddy Guy. And Mavis Staples were all excellent.

The highlight for me of the concert and film was Odetta singing. Leadbelly's "Jim Crow Blues." What a treat!

My final criticism is the truncated version of. "Love In Vain" the Robert Johnson classic being performed by Keb' Mo." This was explained by the need to get to so many more important blues artists that we only get a soupcon of Johnson's brilliance. Naturally one would wait in vain for any hint that Bessie Smith, Memphis Minnie, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Lonnie Johnson, Lightning Hopkins, Brownie McGhee and Sonny Terry, Blind Willie McTell or the greatest of them all, Big Bill Broonzy ever existed.

I have to say that this seems like a vanity project for Scorsese, a major financial failure it would seem and deservedly so. There are so many good things about it that I still gave it 7 of 10, Odetta was that great.

Don't let anyone kid you, this film has no redeeming qualities. If you like certain performers, as I do, you might be able to sit through it. Shirley McLaine's first feature this also stars the wonderful Mildred Natwick, claiming to be 42 after Edmund Gwenn correctly guessed her actual age, 50. Gwenn is equally delightful as a bogus mariner who never got more than a mile from shore. The plot has no value. "Harry" is McLaine's former husband who somehow winds up dead and most of the cast think that they are responsible. Hijinks ensue (not really, there is not a single jink of any type in the entire movie. This is a "black" comedy in the same way that Las Vegas is not really hot because there is no humidity. Watch this claptrap at your own risk.

In Paris, it seems, owners of apartments, unable to keep pace with the cost of living and unable to afford to move, takes part in a "viager." A "viager" is a sale to a prospective buyer in which he pays the seller a certain agreed sum and a monthly stipend, like an annuity, for the rest of the seller's life, thus allowing the seller to maintain and live without worry. A famous one is described in the film where the seller, a very old woman entered such an agreement with a much younger lawyer. Sadly for the lawyer the woman lived to be 123 and the lawyer predeceased her by many, many years, obligating his wife to continue the payments until the old lady's death. In this movie, Kevin Kline inherits a 12 million euro Paris apartment, he thinks, and in the nick of time since he is a three time loser in the marriage game and has no remaining assets. He arrives in Paris, from his home in the U. S., only to find out that he is the victim of such an arrangement and his father has left him no additional funds to make the necessary payments. He must come up with 2400 euros a month or risk losing the apartment. Maggie Smith plays the old lady wonderfully well. Initially, she seems to take pity on him and allows him to stay in the apartment with her until he can make an arrangement to settle the affair without losing his inheritance. We next hear of the tale explaining how the arrangement occurred and it is quite a tawdry one. Maggie and Kevin's father met in Paris in the far distant past and had an affair that never really ended, even after Maggie married, became pregnant, had a daughter and lived to the ripe old age of 92 when we meet her. It is not clear to me if Kevin's father was already married when they met but it is of no importance because he was certainly married and with a son for some 50 plus years as the affair continued. From this point on Maggie's daughter and Kevin whine, ad infinitum. About how they were both raised by unloving parents because all the love was spent either on the lovers or in torment as the spouses of the lovers discover the affair. One can only take so much of that, even though it is well acted by several of my favorites. Ultimately the movie is a failure as there is no defense for the moral deficiencies of the lovers.