Friday, September 28, 2007

Review of “Elizabethtown”

Picture form http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0368709/posters
Overview

· Director, Writer, Producer - Cameron Crowe (From the director of Jerry Maguire (1996) and Almost Famous (2000))
· Producers - Tom Cruise and Paula Wagner
· Editor - David Moritz
· Original Music - Nancy Wilson
· Starring - Orlando Bloom, Kirsten Dunst, Susan Sarandon and Alec Baldwin
· Release date - November 2005

Story (from the dvd's cover)

Drew Baylor (Orlando Bloom), once a rising star at a leading athletic shoe company, has just been fired due to the overwhelming failure of his design for a sneaker and $972 million loss his company suffered because of the fiasco. As if that wasn't bad enough, things get even worse: Drew receives a phone call informing him that his father has passed away--and now, he must get on a plane for Elizabethtown, Kentucky, to retrieve his father's remains.

On the plane ride, Drew meets Claire (Kirsten Dunst), a flight attendant and unstoppably positive woman who changes the course of his life. It is in Kentucky that Drew comes to learn the breadth of his father's life and his own family roots. Drew, with the help of Claire, submits to discovering the possibilities for his own destiny.


My review

This movie tells a heart-warming love story, touching father, family and relatives relationship and motivating life story. It is similar to most of the romance movies which always have happy endings, thought, it is more than that. It is about life and living it happily.

The story start form Drew Baylor’s lowest point of life; he lost his job and girlfriend. He lost his meaning of life and wanted to commit suicide to end everything. But because of the death of his father, he had to draw off the plan for a while. He met the flight attendant, Claire, on the plane, who changed his aspect of life in the following days.

One of the scenes which touches me is the time when he reached the Elizabeth town, the warm welcome from his father’s extended family and friends in the town to him. These are the things which can only be found at the small town. He saw his unfamiliar father lying in the coffin. The only memory with his father which he can recall was years ago while he was young. He remembered the cross country road trip which they planned to go together. But because of his busy schedule, the plan had been postponed year after year. He wished if only he had taken a few days leave out of his schedule back then. But it is too late now.

Another touching scene is the conversation Drew and his sister had had. He asked her if their father was a “fun guy.” She answered with tears, “Sure, he was a fun guy, especially during the past few years, when you were so busy.”

During this trip, he discovered how simple a life can be. He came to realize that his life is not that bad. And with the encouragements and consoles from Claire he started to work out from the dark.

The romantic relationship between Drew and Claire was built during his stays in town. Claire is an optimistic person. She encourages and helps Drew to go through this painful period. Finally, they found their halves in each other soul and fall for each other.

In the funeral, his mother said; she got chances to learn to do all of the house chores, to cook, to repair the furniture, repair car and even dancing after his dad passed away. Those were badly done in the end, but she is trying really hard. She is trying really hard to keep herself busy to engage all of her thought with other things.

Finally, the director wrapped up everything with a cross country road-trip which was laid down by Claire and accompanied with a mix soundtrack CD. At the end of the movie, you will wonder what an incredible effect which music can impose to one, and the magic of music is so powerful which make the movie an unforgettable experience. And that is Nancy Wilson (original music) who bring alive the “Elizabethtown”.


Moral of the film

Life is more than failures and successes in our careers. When we meet setback of our life face it and sometime you may need to slow down or take a break and view it from a different angels so you can see it more clearly and from a different perspective. That is “There is always something else”, a quote by Drew’s father in the movie.

5 comments:

Brad Blackstone said...

Thank you, Sammy, for this detailed review. I saw this DVD on the shelf of my local video store several days ago, and I wondered what it was like. Now I know.

It sounds like a good film for anyone who is depressed or overwhelmed by life to watch. Would you recommend that others watch it?

You mention the music as being a good soundtrack. I look forward to hearing it.

Eve said...

Hi Sammy,
You have done a great job in assuring me to watch this film. :) I like the way you conclude your writing. Yes, it is definitely true that life is not just about failures and successes. There are more in between and beyond the two extremes.
I might watch this film some time.

Madushan said...

I love movies with happy endings.... Because thats the whole point in watching a movie, at least for me :)

Btw, you have just done a marvelous job in convincing me to grab a copy of Elizabethtown. Thanks.

Sin said...

Hey Sammy,

I agreed with you that in the last part of your review(i can't do the previous part, i did not watched the movie :p) Music is essential for a movie. it can turned a horrow movie more horrow or turned it into a comedy. Try mute the sound of any horrow movie and play funny music and see what is the effect.

Ya, for the moral of the movie i think the movie tells us a good lesson: it is not the end of the world. Life finds is way out(second sentense from"jurrasic park".can't wait for the next jurrasic park movie .^_^

k said...

Hi Sammy, I LOve the music at the end too ! music rocks (: