A Love Song For Bobby Long

A love song and a torch.
by Joe De Matteo 2005

HUGE

It had been a long day, I got home late and very tired, but I couldn't sleep. I walked from the bedroom to my office and sat down at my computer; the place I go whenever I have nothing to do. But my finger froze just before it pushed the button to crank her up.

If I did this, I knew, I'd be here for hours answering emails or working on the site, and I didn't have the energy for that, nor the desire. I do my worse work when I feel like this.

My eyes dropped to the pile of DVDs on the corner of my desk. These are prioritized, top to bottom, from what I feel I'll enjoy, to what I really don't want to see. Unlike other reviewers, HugeReviews.com critics don't have to watch everything, especially not the films we have no interest in.

I didn't want to waste a good movie, I knew I wouldn't be able to get into anything feeling as I did, so I pulled out the DVD at the bottom of the pile; it had a Post It on it, "Dad, WATCH THIS!!!!!!!"

It's a bitch when your kids get confident enough that they feel they can strong arm you.

The fact is that Christian is usually right. There are books and films that I would have turn my back on out-of-hand, that he's recommended to me and I've enjoyed tremendously. But not this one, I was sure. A Love Song For Bobby Long. "It's a great title," I had to admit. And I did enjoyed Scarlett Johansson in Lost in Translation - that other film he forced on me; Travolta is always good; I know that I could spend two hours just staring at Deborah Kara Unger; I usually like stories that take place in New Orleans, in fact my great, unpublished novel takes place there.

"What inspired me to make this film was the City of New Orleans itself... ...the kind of beauty of decay... ...and... ...romanticism as an ailment." Shainee Gabel, director, screenplay writer and producer.

The Solar Janus affect. I do believe that had Robert Ludlum ever written about the phenomenon I'm about to describe, he'd have called it The Solar Janus Affect. If you've ever made this mistake (and I have many times in my previous life; and I may yet again if I experience another era in this journey; you know the third era in ones life is often regressive [maybe I feel this way because this film has affected me more than I thought]) the situation and mistake: On a bright sunny morning you bump into an old friend from a different era of yours. The next thing you know you're in a saloon, it's early morning but it feels familiar and you fall into it - to the exclusion of all else. You have some drinks, enjoy reminiscing, develop a little buzz, laugh a little and then, in a moment of sense you decide you had better get back to this present life and it's obligations. You say your good-byes and walk to the exit. You open the door and BAM! The intense sunlight slams into your brain. It is devastating, and in its overwhelming destructiveness it renders you to... The beautiful day is now a burden, a tool of torture.

The day that started out with promise and optimism, has been transformed into the fires of hell; by the same Sun that gave it the promise you'd early experienced. Therefore, you understand, to the depth of your being, that it is your own folly that has put you in hell.

With no one and nothing to blame but yourself you lose faith in you.

You meet Bobby Long and in the first 5 minutes of the film, if you are even a little astute, you see self destruction incarnate.

I was captivated by this film from the opening scene. It is like reading a wonderful novel when your imagination is at its best: painting pictures in your mind; giving form and animation to the characters, constructing the rooms and buildings, the grass and flowers, the streets and buildings. The heartbreak and pain that are life, and the moments of tenderness and love.

The characters seem real to a Tennessee Williams measure, the shabbiness and decay of the city are real to parts of every American city, but with the specific ambiance of the South. And it is real, for most of this movie was filmed on location: the bar, the streets, the yards, even the house and the rooms.

I lived with Pursy, and Bobby and Lawson, I drank with Georgianna, Cecil and Junior. I danced with Pursy and Georgianna. And I know these people and their story will be with me for a very long time.

The soundtrack is absolutely wonderful, too. And wonderful is just the correct adjective for this film because it is wonderful in every way.

A Love Song For Bobby Long is a keeper. Buy the DVD and the Soundtrack they'll become life long favorites.