While not a
recent film
, A Love Song for Bobby Long
is both timeless and unique.
It is, and always will be, one of my all-time favorite movies. Largely due to the authentic and engaging acting performances by Scarlett Johansson,
Gabriel Macht, and John Travolta (whose later work never appealed much to me
before this). But of course, there's a lot more to love about this movie than just its great acting.
The settings all overflow with love and
longing for the beautiful city of New Orleans and its magnificent jazz scene. Cinematographer
Elliot Davis matches the intensity and dedication of the actors with his raw
imagery. The romance of the city as well as its rustic character are portrayed
without the use of exuberant hipster filters; the images speak for themselves
and need little enhancing. The timelessness of this movie goes beyond its
qualities as a film classic, and extends to the slow and calm ease with which
it tells its story. Time moves differently in New Orleans, allowing for
riverside guitar playing, undisturbed reading, intellectual conversations and
literature quotations.
Purslane Hominy Will (Scarlett Johansson) learns of her estranged mother’s death and makes her way to her house in New Orleans. She arrives there only to miss her mother’s funeral and share her inheritance with two alcoholic strangers, Bobby Long and Lawson Pines (John Travolta and Gabriel Macht). When Purslane decides to stay and claim her right to (a third of) her mother’s house, a difficult friendship arises where one seemed improbable. The movie is based on the novel
Off Magazine Street, by Ronald Everett Caps. Grayson Caps (Caps' son) wrote 6 songs for the movie's soundtrack and appears briefly in the film.
If it had
not been for the heart-stirring soundtrack, the moving performances, or the quickly acquired love for a
city I had never been to, I am sure the mention and crucial role of Carson
McCuller’s novel The Heart is a Lonely
Hunter would have won me over either way. The novel had been in my top
three of favorite novels years before a link had been established with the
fictional character Bobby Long. The novel, with its cheesy-sounding title, is a
breathtaking story of misfits and underdogs, of love and friendship, of being
and feeling small, and of growing up. While clearly no adaptation of the novel,
its vintage and unencumbered feel, belonging to a much simpler time before
computers and even basic technology, was transferred to the screen. None of the
scenes in this movie require or are hindered by technological gadgets. Stripped
back to the basic essentials, nothing is left but people, music and nature.
The
predictability of the eventual plot-twist is a non-issue. The story focuses not
on the outcome, but on the process. Its inclusion of tiny details give the
movie a higher class all its own. A familiar reaction and concern is shown when Lawson opens the bathroom door and
quickly closes it again after realizing Purslane is standing in front of him,
wearing only a towel. After the door hits the lock, Purslane checks her
reflection in the mirror, assuming the pose in which Lawson must have seen her,
gauging what he saw. This short and insignificant scene is an elegant
indication of the level of depth; the characters are marked by their
insecurities and personal baggage and we get a much deeper connection with them than we would in any other narrative.
While its
simplicity and beauty left me teary-eyed several times, A Love Song for Bobby Long still qualifies as a feel-good movie. Even
when watching it for the 9th time since its release, this movie can
do more for me than most, providing a short-lived but satisfying peace of mind
while also making me long for similar surroundings and a New Orleans-fictional
world where time seems to be equally fictional.
