NOT FADE AWAY (2012)
Starring John Magaro, Jack Huston, Bella Heathcoate, Christopher McDonald and James Gandolfini.
Directed by David Chase
A Paramount Vantage Release
MPAA Theatrical Rating: R
David Chase makes his own late-70's Floyd Mutrux nostalgia pic in this Jersey-centric ode to first-world tumultuous 1960's living, garage rock and the lingering effect of the British Invasion on all involved. Magaro (THE BRAVE ONE, THE BOX) headlines as Douglas, a short, talented, working class Italian-American teen with a hankering for a rock and roll "career" and the affections of the WASPy, well-off Grace (Heathcoate, DARK SHADOWS). Journeying with his fracturing band from one small town drama to the next, Douglas gains limited perspective but obvious life lessons to draw on later, even if he doesn't know it. An excellent ensemble cast is led into dramatic battle with a loose yet focused script and style from SOPRANOS creator (and debut director) Chase. It's central theme: youth is wasted on the young but the joy is being alive to waste it, with the even bigger joy of knowing how much you wasted it as you get older. This isn't a movie for kids with dreams. It's for adults who've naturally lost their way.
A few weeks back, I read a half-baked, poorly researched article with possible sponsored content overtones about the demise of the midnight movie and how Rob Zombie's self-aware LORDS OF SALEM is a return to that type of film-making, as if somehow you can replicate what makes a film a cult movie. THIS is a modern midnight movie: a sincere, rock and roll laced theatrical bomb with dream-like pacing best appreciated with like-minded folk at an hour when things aren't as cut and dry as they seem. If you get onto its level, it works some kind of magic. With Dominique McElligot, Lisa Lampenelli, Will Brill and Molly Price.
Executive Producer and Music Supervisor Steve Van Zandt's catchy tune "St. Valentines' Day Massacre":
