An ode to music, memory and healing, indie drama The Music Never Stopped features songs of The Grateful Dead and other classic rockers within a father-son reunion tale.
Jim Kohlberg’s directorial debut is a moving, timely exploration of how the human brain affects our lives and experiences. With a tiny budget, he captures the essence of a man emerging from a severe neurological handicap.
Living in the now is the only option for Gabriel Sawyer (Lou Taylor Pucci), a young man whose brain tumor leaves him in a coma in 1986. When he wakes after surgery, his memories are erased.
Music is the key to engaging Gabriel, but not just any tune will do. Music therapist Dianne Daly (Julia Ormond) discovers that only 1960s rock rouses him.
Every song unlocks a different piece of Gabriel’s past. With brio he walks, talks and gestures. As soon as a song ends Gabriel withdraws into his usual silence, his expression mask-like.
Pucci (Carriers; The Horsemen) is edgy and sweet, more like Robert De Niro’s guru-ish Leonard Lowe than Daniel Day Lewis’ smoldering Christy Brown. Over time Gabriel is able to engage with others and even flirt with lovely cafeteria worker Celia (Mia Maestro). Hearing the music of his favorite band The Grateful Dead brings tears of joy and wonderment.
Based on Oliver Sacks' essay The Last Hippie, the film is pensive, exuberant and occasionally cliche. Neurologist-author Sacks drew on real-life case studies in his writing, which also inspired the film Awakenings (1990) starring De Niro and Robin Williams.
Henry and Helen Sawyer (J.K. Simmons and Cara Seymour) visit the sleeping man who is their little boy. They haven’t seen him in 20 years. When Gabriel wakes up, Henry learns that his son fears him as a cruel authoritarian. Henry must face his shadow and take responsibility for his part in their estrangement.
Master character actor Simmons (Spider-Man; Juno; The Closer) plays a cranky square who never understood why Gabriel doesn’t revere the big bands. Now he wishes that new memories could be created in his son’s mind. That’s impossible, Daly tells him.
Henry grows forgetful and disengaged. When he’s fired from his engineering job, he can’t avoid visiting Gabriel and becoming involved in his rehab. The two gradually connect. There’s a renewal of Henry’s mental clarity and zest. Scenes where he temporarily rebels against Gabriel’s musical preferences stumble.
Seymour is refreshing as open minded, matter-of-fact Helen. Becoming the family breadwinner doesn’t diminish her empathy for son and husband alike.
Gabriel yearns to attend his first Dead concert. Henry exchanges his records for modern ones, letting Gabriel teach him to appreciate a new generation’s vibes.
When Henry wins Dead concert tickets, father and son don love beads and tie died t-shirts for the event. The concert scene is awkwardly beautiful and moving despite clumsy staging.
"A Grateful Dead concert had a way of setting you up with a koan or an aphorism and then opening up an improvisational musical space in which to ponder it,” writes author David Gans. “Lives were changed at Dead shows; decisions were made; creativity was inspired.”
Gabriel not only gets by and survives, but moves beyond A Touch of Grey.
If you like The Music Never Stopped, you might enjoy: The Soloist; Two Lovers; Win Win; Up in the Air.
Subscribe to Secret Agent Gal Reviews.
The Music Never Stopped 2010 / PG / 1 hour, 45 min
Cast Overview: J.K. Simmons, Lou Taylor Pucci, Cara Seymour, Julia Ormond, Tammy Blanchard, Mia Maestro, Scott Adsit, James Urbaniak
Director: Jim Kohlberg
Genre: Indie Drama, Drama Based on Real Life, Music
Recent Comments