List of the Month: April 2010

Song of the Month:

Yet another I've basically not been able to stop listening to, partly because it's a collaboration between two of my absolute favourite artists, and partly because it's just a great song. Alicia Keys and John Mayer's Lesson Learned is a beautiful synthesis of styles and instruments: as you would expect, it's Keys on the piano, providing sparse chords, a heart-rendingly simple riff in the verse and a beautiful soundscape, and Mayer on the guitar, bringing the rhythm, groove and the killer chorus hook, not to mention occasional and tasteful fills that make you realise how enviable his tone is. Vocally, John mostly sings the BVs to Alicia's passionate and honest assessment of a situation we've all been in, somehow managing never to spill into the sentimental.

A massive shout out actually has to go to the drummer (not sure which, but one of Steve Jordan, Trevor Lawrence Jr, or Mark Robohm) - because the song and instrumentation is so sparse and full of pauses and hangs, it really highlights the drums, which carry the momentum of the song, especially through the verses. A really simple drum pattern can sometimes be the hardest thing to play, especially with the precision and sensitivity required by this kind of track, but this is really a perfect performance. The song was rightfully nominated for Best Pop Collaboration with vocals at the 2009 Grammy awards, unjustly losing out to Robert Plant and Alison Krauss's frankly baffling Rich Woman. In my opinion, a song of this rare quality deserves recognition beyond a single Grammy nomination, but for now, I can only add my recommendation to the pile.

Film of the Month:

Continuing in my drive to see all 10 of the Best Picture nominees this year, so I can know for certain just how overrated Hurt Locker has been (and believe me, it has been), I caught up with both The Blind Side and Up In The Air this month, leaving only An Education on the list. It was a close call, but I'm definitely going to have to go with The Blind Side. Up In The Air is a thought-provoking, engaging, and beautifully acted piece, and in another year could well have walked away with a deserved Oscar (over Slumdog Millionaire or No Country For Old Men, for example), but this year it was simply outshone by one of the best films I have seen in at least the last 5 years.

Part of the power of The Blind Side is that it's based on the true story of Michael Oher. Playing on my and many Americans' love for American Football, the story shows us the rise of Oher from essentially homeless dropout to NFL athlete. The film is not shot in a documentary way, but knowledge of the reality behind the film colours one's entire perception of events, bringing new meaning and life to what otherwise might be forgettable or dull moments and aiding the suspension of disbelief with what otherwise might be unbelievable or stretching the bounds of credibility. More than once I found myself choking back tears, not least as Sandra Bullock delivers what is undoubtedly the performance of a lifetime as Leigh Anne, for which she deservedly won the Best Actress Oscar. Her unexpectedly nuanced performance and pitch-perfect depiction of the go-getting, Southern Belle, ex-cheerleader-cum-soccer mom is surprisingly almost matched by Tim McGraw, whom I had known only as a country music artist and husband of Faith Hill. Perhaps that life experience prepared him well for taking the backseat to a somewhat domineering wife, but his performance is no less impressive for it.

Alongside Bullock, the true star of the show is of course Quinton Aaron, in the role of Michael, or Big Mike. Considering his relatively meagre acting experience up this point (this is his first lead role), Aaron delivers a credible and understated performance of such quality, I could scarcely believe he wasn't born in front of a director and a camera. Excellent supporting roles from little brother SJ (Jae Head) and Collins (the gorgeous Lily Collins), not to mention the various teachers, family members of both Michael's and the Tuohys', gang thugs and insufferable lunch friends add up to complete an utterly convincing and engaging world where the characters live and interact and where actions have true and proportionate consequences. For all this heavy subject matter, there is ample humour, much of it provided by SJ or, unwittingly, Michael himself, and again, this perfectly reflects the unpredictable and bittersweet capriciousness of life, where you can be laughing one minute and crying the next.

The lion's share of the character development is shared between him and Bullock, as the film fundamentally is the story of their relationship - the transformation from uneducated, lumbering quasi-mute to the man comfortable calling Bullock mama, standing up for himself under interrogation, and singing along to Bust-A-Move with his adopted brother is marked but entirely realistic, a stark contrast to many Hollywood films where people change overnight or even in the space of a few hours. In real life, people don't change, not really, not much and not often. When they do, the changes are more minor or subtle, mostly occurring during times of great stress and external change (puberty, adulthood, marriage etc.). This kind of realism is perfectly captured by writer Michael Lewis and screenplaywright and director John Lee Hancock over the 2 year timeframe of the film. They are, of course, helped by the truth behind the story, but rarely if ever do they overstep their remit and fall into the inviting but sugar-coated trappings of Hollywood melodrama.

Some friends of mine have commented that the film is patronising, both to its audience and to the black community portrayed within it. Personally, I never found this to be the case. The Blind Side never claims to show the entirety of black society, and actually the breadth of characters was quite subtly varied - without giving too much away, there is the janitor Michael is staying with at the beginning of the film who first gets him into the school; there is Michael's birth mother; there is the gangleader but also an obviously reluctant member; the NCAA investigator... I don't think there is an overwhelming stereotype of anyone, black or white: for every good Christian presented in the film, there's a casually racist redneck or a high-society bigot to balance the scales. What I think the film does show is the sense of being trapped felt by so many people from poor backgrounds - in this case black, but not by necessity - and how hard they have to work or lucky they have to be to escape it.

If the film falls down anywhere, it's in an arguably saccharin presentation of Christianity. On the one hand, The Blind Side is an excellent advert for what can be achieved through a strong, loving Christian faith. But such faith is not necessary to act as Leigh Anne did (or does in the film), even though, in her particular case, it was the obvious spur to her behaviour. Obviously long, drawn-out arguments can be had as to whether the good achieved by such Christian action is outweighed by the negatives of organised religion, but that is not the focus of the film, and therefore it should hopefully suffice that I have mentioned it. The Blind Side pretty strongly sets out its stall, blocking any accusations of "white guilt" in a particularly poignant lunch scene, although some might say that even bringing it up is defensive, that the film "doth protest too much".

Regardless, through a combination of superb acting, strong social conscience, faultless realism, humour and heartbreak in good store, and an inspiring message, The Blind Side stands as the best of the 9 Oscar nominees I have seen so far, a film that could, had it existed then, have won Best Picture in any of the last 6 years, with the possible exception of 2006 and Little Miss Sunshine. Avatar may have changed cinema, Up In The Air may have changed the way we look at our world, Inglourious Basterds may even have changed history (or at least rewritten it), but The Blind Side is that special breed of film that will stay with me, and hopefully you, for years to come.