Based on a typically heart-wrenching case study by Oliver Sacks, the admirably modest adaptation The Music Never Stopped tells the story of Gabriel Sawyer (Lou Taylor Pucci), a homeless hippie whose burnout isn't the product of drug abuse, but a ballooning benign tumor that's erased his memory. Institutionalized in the mid-1980s and rejoined with the suburban New York parents (J.K. Simmons and Cara Seymour) he'd long ago abandoned, Gabriel seems hopelessly locked in until a neurologist (Julia Ormond) discovers that his brain comes alive through the rock music of his youth. With a script tailored for a different budget and era and a scattershot, also-ran cast, the film is clearly the compromised product of a decade-plus in development hell. But where star-filled Oscar bait would have sensationalized Gabriel's story, leaning on the horn with prolonged reaction shots, escalating strings and performances bellowed for the cheap seats, Jim Kohlberg's workmanlike directorial debut is better for its restraint. A teary finale pegged to the Grateful Dead's "Touch of Gray" works precisely because of its odd, unforced specificity. But strain is evident elsewhere. In a rare leading role, character actor Simmons is saddled with the entirety of the film's diagrammatic emotional arc, briskly (and tediously) about-facing on matters of fatherhood, activism and guitar rock, while a too-boyish Pucci is fatally unconvincing as a former bandleader. Whenever the music starts, he ensures that all plausibility stops.
I saw the premier of this at Sundance. It was the featured film at the Opening Night Gala. It got a standing O for good reason. Great story, music and performances. An emotional ride of a movie that will definitely uplift you at the end and will have you thinking about your own familial connections.
The newpapers' review is typical of one who sees too many movies. For the rest of us, this is treat to watch. Great date movie. Do not miss it !!!!!!!.
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