Film Review: Reverence for Al resonates in the 'Book of Eli'
Kim Morgan is the guest critic for January for the Independent Film Channel.
Sometimes it's the small moments.
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Rated R for some brutal violence and language
Length: 118 minutes
Released: January 15, 2010 NationwideScore: 3.0
Cast: Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Malcolm McDowell, Michael Gambon
Director: Allen Hughs, Albert HughsProducer: Joel Silver
Writer: Gary Whitta
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama
Distributor: Warner Bros. Pictures
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As in life, in a movie one little thing can have the power to send you into a bittersweet reverie of love lost, or fill your heart with enigmatic emotions. For me, it usually involves music.
There are too many music-in-movie moments throughout the history of cinema to discuss here, but often, even during the shortest bursts of soundtrack -- shorter than say, Harold waiting for the fate of Maude and driving his car towards that cliff to the entire tune of Cat Stevens' "Trouble" (one of the most heart-achingly beautiful and brilliantly edited mergings of song and image) -- if set properly, I can get chills just watching a few moments of a musical interlude.
Last year, it occurred in Davis Guggenheim's documentary "It Might Get Loud," when Jimmy Page air-guitared to his own old 45 of Link Wray's "Rumble." How disarming, touching, oddly life-affirming it was to watch a master air-strum to the thick, evil, inspirational power chords of that other master, Wray, with the beaming smile of a little boy and a lifelong fan. Perfection.
This year (and it's early yet), it happened in "The Book of Eli" in which directors Albert and Allen Hughes make the inspired decision to meld Denzel Washington with Al Green.
Of course, Al Green is easy. Easy in the way that you can't insert an Al Green song in a movie and not make me feel something. You can't play an Al Green song in a car without making me look at the world differently. So introducing Washington, after trudging through post-apocalyptic desolation, covered in scarves and layers and grime and dust, and then unwrapping all of this coating to reveal an older face, a scarred body and a mysterious, sadder demeanor, to the tune of "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" (written by the Gibb brothers -- nice touch, Hughes brothers) was one of the most poignant movie moments I've seen this year (and I repeat, it's early yet).
Read the rest of this review here.
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