List of the Month: February 2010

Song of the month:

By some considerable margin, it is Disappear. This song is truly product of that talent of Belmont University - written by my two good friends John Flanagan and Brett McLaughlin, arranged by Dan Pentecost and performed by John and the Performer's Showcase band. The recording, sadly, is a little rough, due to the low quality audio limits on youtube, and the difficulties of live recording without a desk input. The worst consequence of this is that the lyrics are somewhat hard to hear on the first few tries, but as someone who was there live, I can assure you this is in no way a product of John's perfect diction.

Obviously, I am not impartial in my analysis or recommendation of this song, but I can honestly say that there is no part of this song and performance that I do not consider perfect, or at least flawless. Lyrically, it is a top class example of writing on a theme, in this instance the parallels of love and magic, with various brilliant lyrics. Vocally, John is pitch-perfect , with the sort of vocal range I would happily kill for, and displays both power in the choruses and riffs and emotional tenderness in the breakdown. Musically, the verse uses a quirky but pleasing progression, while the chorus rests on the well-known but satisying 1-5-m6-4. Overall, the video goes some way to capturing the magic of the live performance, and for that alone is worth your time.

Film of the month:

Through the bounties of Sky Player, I discovered the indie gem that is Live! With most certainly the greatest performance of hers I have ever seen, Eva Mendes, as an ambitious but engaging TV executive, leads this documentary-style life-cycle of a reality TV show based on russian roulette, from its inception in a creative meeting to its impossibly gripping end. Rarely have I become so drawn into the illusion a film has created, so immersed in the lives at stake, as the final scene, where each character puts a loaded gun to their head and pulls the trigger for a shot at money and fame.

There are a lot of films which claim to investigate the reality TV genre, the blurring of fact and fiction, the limits of what people will watch - Gamer, Wrong Turn 2: Dead End, The Condemned, even as far back as The Running Man. Many of them are shit, especially those that focus on violence, and most of them fail to do explore the questions in any great depth, or offer insight worth the 2 hours they require. But a precious few, like The Truman Show or the Extras Christmas Special, do have something worthwhile to say, and make no bones about saying it. Live! definitely falls into this category, both as an exploration into reality TV, and a commentary on contemporary audiences. There is one part of the final rundown where my suspension of disbelief was broken by the audience reaction to something, but otherwise, this is a film which stays true to its documentary style, even when it obviously moves to scenes directly from the show. Partly as a result of this, and partly because of some great performances and excellent direction, this is a film which stays human and real from start to finish. It is thought provoking, credible and 100% worth your time.