Welcome to 1950s Harmony, Alabama. Before civil rights and rock & roll, a piano player named Tyrone “Pinetop” Purvis (played by Danny Glover) is experiencing hard times at his night club aptly named The Honeydripper.
Few customers come into The Honeydripper any more, since Toussaint’s, the rival bar next door, has a jukebox. Behind on his rent and close to bankruptcy, Purvis decides to risk everything and books Guitar Sam, a showy electric axe man from New Orleans. Not only may Purvis lose his business to the landlord, but might also lose his wife to a charismatic Pentecostal preacher, for Purvis’ wife (Lisa Gay Hamilton) is internally struggling with her faith, both with God and in Pinetop.
Other supporting characters in the movie include Purvis’ business partner and comic foil Maseo, portrayed by character actor Charles Dutton. Stacy Keach, is the ever watchful corrupt small town sheriff, but not in the stereotypical Bull O’Connor style. Newcomer Gary Clark Jr. (a real-life musician from Austin, Texas) is Sonny, the new guitarist in town. Rounding out the cast is musician Keb’ Mo’, who appears as Possum, a phantasmal blind bluesman who appears only to Pinetop and Sonny.
The most memorable scene in Honeydripper comes as Purvis describes the allegorical birth of jazz, as a house slave after listening to his “master’s minuets,” sits down at the piano and begins to play his own music.
Not much goes on in Harmony, which explains the film’s slow pacing. Honeydripper did seem to drag a bit during the second act, but just be patient and wait for the guitar to be electrified.
Honeydripper Writer/Director John Sayles got his start in Hollywood as a screenwriter for low-budget director Roger Corman and has maintained his independent spirit ever since.
Best known for Eight Men Out and Passion Fish, Sayles writes with a social conscience without being too preachy in Honeydripper. His racial overtones are very subtle. You have to be looking carefully to notice the “Colored Entrance” sign on the wall of a local shop and listening closely for a scant mention of A. Phillip Randolph, a forerunner of Martin Luther King Jr.
In an era of rapid-cuts, Sayles rarely moves the camera. He slowly pans across cotton pickers at harvest time and follows Sonny down the main street of Harmony without an edit.
Honeydripper was filmed on location in Greenville and Anniston, Alabama. Budgeted at $5 million, no studio picked up the movie for distribution. Undaunted, Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi, are self-promoting the movie around the country and garnering numerous positive reviews from critics.
Independent films do not play long in Huntsville, so go see this movie while you can. Like the early days of rock & roll, this movie may be gone before you know it.
Rating: *** (out of ****)
Few customers come into The Honeydripper any more, since Toussaint’s, the rival bar next door, has a jukebox. Behind on his rent and close to bankruptcy, Purvis decides to risk everything and books Guitar Sam, a showy electric axe man from New Orleans. Not only may Purvis lose his business to the landlord, but might also lose his wife to a charismatic Pentecostal preacher, for Purvis’ wife (Lisa Gay Hamilton) is internally struggling with her faith, both with God and in Pinetop.
Other supporting characters in the movie include Purvis’ business partner and comic foil Maseo, portrayed by character actor Charles Dutton. Stacy Keach, is the ever watchful corrupt small town sheriff, but not in the stereotypical Bull O’Connor style. Newcomer Gary Clark Jr. (a real-life musician from Austin, Texas) is Sonny, the new guitarist in town. Rounding out the cast is musician Keb’ Mo’, who appears as Possum, a phantasmal blind bluesman who appears only to Pinetop and Sonny.
The most memorable scene in Honeydripper comes as Purvis describes the allegorical birth of jazz, as a house slave after listening to his “master’s minuets,” sits down at the piano and begins to play his own music.
Not much goes on in Harmony, which explains the film’s slow pacing. Honeydripper did seem to drag a bit during the second act, but just be patient and wait for the guitar to be electrified.
Honeydripper Writer/Director John Sayles got his start in Hollywood as a screenwriter for low-budget director Roger Corman and has maintained his independent spirit ever since.
Best known for Eight Men Out and Passion Fish, Sayles writes with a social conscience without being too preachy in Honeydripper. His racial overtones are very subtle. You have to be looking carefully to notice the “Colored Entrance” sign on the wall of a local shop and listening closely for a scant mention of A. Phillip Randolph, a forerunner of Martin Luther King Jr.
In an era of rapid-cuts, Sayles rarely moves the camera. He slowly pans across cotton pickers at harvest time and follows Sonny down the main street of Harmony without an edit.
Honeydripper was filmed on location in Greenville and Anniston, Alabama. Budgeted at $5 million, no studio picked up the movie for distribution. Undaunted, Sayles and producer Maggie Renzi, are self-promoting the movie around the country and garnering numerous positive reviews from critics.
Independent films do not play long in Huntsville, so go see this movie while you can. Like the early days of rock & roll, this movie may be gone before you know it.
Rating: *** (out of ****)
No comments:
Post a Comment