Southport Magazine

Flannel, Folk Music and Forgiveness
By: Emily Klinefelter & Jennifer Barnett
When Jen and I first decided to watch SONG ONE we were intrigued because the Redbox review had very little to say – so little in fact I believe it was along the lines of “this movie is a movie” there was literally nothing. Luckily, Redbox has taken the time to review the movie since then, phew!

To set the scene for this movie we did a little digging in advance into what Anne Hathaway, “Oscar winning – speaks with her big eyes” heroine of the movie, known as Franny liked to eat and drink. So with great big smiles we indulged in Sushi, Chocolates, and Wine- Thanks Anne, we love you.

With feet propped up and wine in hand we hit play and began to watch.

The romantic drama begins with Franny’s (Anne Hathaway) brother Henry (Ben Rosenfield) playing some great modern- folk music on his guitar in the subways of Brooklyn. Sadly Henry is met with a shocking accident that puts him in a coma for a large part of the movie. Too bad, Henry is a likeable character, not nearly as dysfunctional as the rest of his family.

Franny has been traveling abroad as a writer/photographer and although she seems to enjoy her career we can’t help but feel that she is still searching for peace. She is pulled back to her old life in Brooklyn by a phone call about her brother.

Right away you can see the chaos of her family dynamic. Her mother (Mary Steenburgen) a hyper emotional, obsessive writer who was thrown into single motherhood by the unfortunate death of her husband is all that Franny has to lean on, therefor their relationship is obviously not a strong one. We couldn’t help but pity Franny and feel her loneliness.

All of the characters are artistic, introverted and lacking in basic communication skills. So it is no surprise that Franny and her brother have not spoken for a long time due to an argument they had. This fact opens up a well of regret that only Anne Hathaway can convey with those expressive, big brown eyes of hers.

So, she goes on a mission to rediscover her brother’s passion for music and make up for time lost. She manages to find his journal and proceeds to let it guide her into his life. As a consequence of this she is introduced to one of Henry’s idols, James Forester.

James Forester (Johnny Flynn) is a very talented musician but lacking on the looks and self-confidence, we will be polite and call him a private man- oh you flannel shirt artists how we love you…James Forester is so touched by Franny’s story of her brother that he comes to the hospital one day to visit Henry and of course Franny is there. This bodes well since Franny has been using items from his life to attempt to jar him from his deep sleep. This is the first of many heartfelt lovely moments, filled with awkward silences that gave us the shivers! The awkwardness in this movie reached epic proportions similar to The Notebook when Noah and Allie are undressing in the abandon house.

James is an up and coming star so we were a little taken aback by the lack of self-confidence and personality! Geez, come on man!

You may be asking…..

Do they fall in love? Does Henry live to play again? Does the awkwardness ever subside? You will have to see for yourselves!

All in all we found the movie to have great music- we loved the sound track- if you like Mumford and Sons, the Avett Brothers, or music in general you will enjoy it for sure. We were impressed for we all know Anne Hathaway can sing (Les Miserables) but we feel she tapped into her inner Bjork- it was kind of awesome. The fashion was very ordinary nothing too great to note- a lot of flannel but hey we love flannel. Anne rocks an adorable pixie- we are so jealous.

The acting wasn’t bad but it wasn’t amazing (How hard is it to act awkward and silent anyway?). The film quality felt like Perks of Being a Wallflower-a very Sundance Film Festival feel- almost like they applied a filter over the lens that makes it feel soft and slow. The movie itself was not one we would jump to recommend to someone, unless you were looking for a rainy day, calm, well intentioned flick, that you don’t really need to pay attention to.

We will attempt to advise you on foods and other needed props so that you can put together your own viewing party for this and future movies. This particular movie has very few things you need to set the scene. We would go with flannel shirts, M&Ms, Prosecco and pancakes. Don’t ask – just roll with it and ENJOY!

-We do want to hear your reviews. Did you watch the movie? What are your thoughts?

Rating: PG-13 (for a scene of sexuality and brief language)
Genre: Drama, Romance
Directed By: Kate Barker-Froyland
Written By: Kate Barker- Froyland