About Immaculate Conception

Post 620:

I’m pretty hard on movies about music. I have to remind myself that they’re just stories and if they entertain a majority of folks, that’s good enough for me. A Star is Born was pretty much loved, so I won’t crash your high. I would like to do a comparison, though, and point out a few things. If you hate my guts after, I’ll understand.

Though it’s about musicians and there are many performances in the film, it’s not a musical. In The Blues Brothers or LaLa Land or the frigging Sound of Music, people break out into songs in the middle of the plot in a fanciful fashion; the songs are based on what’s going on in the story, but they’re frigging songs. That’s not generally how the world works, and that’s okay, because they’re musicals and that’s the point.

There’s a scene in A Star is Born where the big song (mostly) gets written. It’s in a parking lot, and the girl starts singing something with lyrics and melody. I guess it’s just what’s in her head at the time, even though she’s not a “songwriter.” I didn’t re-watch the scene, but it was a bit strange how this conjuring happens. It’s not a musical, but she starts singing out of nowhere, sort of like it is. It didn’t feel earned. I’m not saying that creative magic doesn’t spring up at random sometimes, but the movie is extremely sad and grounded on the whole. Struck me weird, but then again, I’m weird.

Here’s a different example. In Walk the Line, Johnny Cash is playing for the dude at Sun Records, rolling out the same old stuff that everyone plays. The head honcho ain’t having any. He tells Johnny something about belief or uniqueness or whatever, and then Johnny lets loose with a nascent “Folsom Prison.” (I think) he brings something dark and different and it feels authentic. Captain Negative’s ears are suddenly afire with delight because he’s found a new talent to exploit. Yay!

So, what’s the difference? First, in Walk the Line, Johnny’s established as a guy who writes songs. There’s even a scene where he’s watching a movie about jail or something, and you can see he feels sort of like a prisoner in his own life. So… it’s plausible that he’d have this lyric and melody sitting in his back pocket. The old set-up/payoff deal. Works every time.

In A Star, I think there’s some dialogue to explain her attempts at songwriting, but we don’t see it. I feel a little robbed when she breaks out a jam in front of super famous guy with the ease of ordering a pizza. Maybe I missed the set-up and therefore robbed myself of the payoff. I make mistakes, and though I try to pay close attention to stories, things slip by.

If I was a good person with more integrity, I’d go back and check, but I don’t think I can just yet. Although the movie was well made with good performances, it was super heavy. Bummerville.

So really, I just wanted to highlight those two scenes and explain how they hit me different. I’m done now. I’m currently writing a book where people break out into songs. You just read the lyrics and imagine the melody. Maybe I’ll provide sheet music. Pretty sure people will love it.

Being silly. Shocker. See you after.