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Written by Rafer Guzman
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Thursday, 03 January 2008 |
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Set in rural Alabama in 1950, John Sayles’ latest is a golden-hued fairy tale about the moment when a jolt of electric current turned the front-porch blues into modern rock and roll.
In this mythical version of the South, the freight trains moan like departing spirits, music seeps out of every gap-walled shack, and you can practically taste all those sweet, tangy guitar licks. Even the local preacher sounds like Paul Robeson.
It’s a lovely portrait of a fabled time and place, but wasn’t there a bit of ugliness, too? Lynchings, rapes, white-hooded mobs — none of those realities rear their heads here. Sayles, who wrote, directed and edited, seems so enamored with the popular lore of the blues that he often glosses over the suffering that begot the music.
The story — not really a plot — centers on Tyrone “Pine Top” Purvis (Danny Glover), who hopes to save his struggling juke joint, The Honeydripper, by convincing a guitar-toting youngster (Gary Clark, Jr., in his film debut) to pose as a famous musician. The film unfolds patiently, introducing the various field hands, petty hoods and regular folk (plus the local white sheriff, played by a smirking Stacy Keach) who will eventually gather at the bar for the climactic concert.
The appealing, nearly all-black cast (including Charles S. Dutton as the bar’s amiable handyman) perform real magic with the vernacular poetry of Sayles’ script. In one scene, Glover imagines himself as the first slave to sit at a white man’s piano. “Lord help me,” Glover whispers aloud, “I could do some damage with this thing.”
There’s so much charm and life in “The Honeydripper” that it makes the bygone South seem like a delightful place to be. It surely was, for some.
Critic says: A-
Rating: PG-13 for mild language, brief violence, adult themes
Running time: 2 hrs. 02 mins.
Starring: Danny Glover, Gary Clark Jr., Keb Mo, Ruth Brown, Kel Mitchell. Produced by John Sayles
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