Customer Reviews

The Guitar

5 star:		(14)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(17)
2 star:		(10)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

I saw "The Guitar" at a film festival and I was very moved by the experience. The central character goes through a transformation when confronting her mortality that anyone who's open to the experience will find incredibly absorbing. Don't be put off by the talk of going on a spending spree - that is NOT what the film is actually about (its not a validation of wanton materialism) - the buying of material objects is just part of a process that the character, Melody, needs to go through in order to discover what's important. For any connoisseur of the beautiful, talented Saffron Burrows this film is a wonderful gift. She delivers a deeply felt and brilliant performance that dominates the screen in almost every scene. Its hard to imagine anyone else being able to animate this challenging role the way Ms Burrows has - she performs magic. There are whole scenes where she is alone on the screen and has no dialogue and sometimes not even any clothes. Its quite primal. Later she explores her sexuality and discovers more of what she's been missing and has a lot of fun, too. I don't want to give too much away but I will state that the film is much like a parable and has an ending that might startle some - either positively or negatively. Many people will love this film and I can also imagine some disliking it - it depends on your perspective. In my case, I thought about "The Guitar" for days after I saw it - it really resonated.

I enjoyed this movie. I felt the whole premise is about what would happen if you were completely freed from the normal boundaries of the day to day world and you could do anything you wanted - no longer locked into your current real world situation, no longer concerned with duties and the expectations of anyone around you, no longer contorted to fit into the box you've made for yourself in life. The path of the character made perfect sense to me. Saffron Burroughs did a fine job of acting, and her beauty is almost a kind of poetic element of the film. In many ways the movie was all about healing and restoration, both of the body and the spirit, through the freedom to breathe.

Melody Wilder is having a bad day. First, she finds out that she has one to two months to live. (Apparently, she had been "feeling crappy," saw a doctor and was diagnosed with inoperable cancer. No treatment is offered to slow the progress, or to make her more comfortable. Just "take the day to arrange your affairs and then come back to see a counselor." Yeah, right.

Stunned, Melody makes her way back to her office. She arrives at her cubicle only to be "downsized" by her boss in front of everyone. He hands her a check for 4 weeks severance, shrugs and walks off. Yeah, right.

Distraught, she calls her "boyfriend" who reluctantly agrees to meet with her. Before she can say anything, he's trotting out believable, original lines like "I'm feeling trapped. Not me...my lifeforce" and "my therapist thinks I need to get in touch with my inner child." So she gets dumped unceremoniously by a guy who only speaks in cliches. Yeah, right.

Melody has nothing in her life, so she contemplates suicide. By happenstance, she sees a half page ad in the New York Times advertising the gorgeous, beautiful, spacious loft with a river view...but it's only available for two months rental. So, yeah, right...I guess I'd spend that kind of money advertising to rent a space I only had for two months. Anyway, Melody leaves everything she has except the clothes on her back, empties her accounts, and proceeds to move into this gorgeous loft (and it IS) and starts to furnish it to her liking using her huge pile of credit cards.

Finally, the movie seems to get something right. If you were all alone and about to die, it might be a VERY viable choice to just max out your credit cards and indulge. Although I must say that the choices for indulgence that Melody makes aren't the ones I would make...but to each his/her own. She confines herself entirely to her apartment (in fact, she even tosses her few clothes out the window, and until she gets new ones, struts around quite naked.)

Eventually, Melody makes friends with her pizza delivery girl and her UPS man. In fact, they all become more than friends...although it is nearly impossible to see what draws these people together other than pure hedonism. But its all scripted in such a way as to make it all an implausible dream.

Melody also remembers how as a young girl she yearned to own this lovely red electric guitar...so she finally treats herself, and spends hours on end trying to learn the instrument. These scenes, though mostly dramatically inert, do generate some emotion...the idea of connecting to music in a way that you almost feel inside your body.

Saffron Burrows is Melody, and she does a very nice job. Were the role mishandled, the movie would have been completely unwatchable. As it is, Burrows dives deep into her character and we frequently see real emotion on her face. It's the kind of performance that will make casting directors take note of her skills, and perhaps land her some roles worthy of whatever talent she has.

In THE GUITAR, however, the script writer almost utterly lets her down. The final section of the film is utterly, completely ludicrous in a way that almost made me groan. Jeanneane Garfalo, as the doctor (in a cameo that is totally jarring) is forced to utter one of the most outrageously stupid medical explanations I've ever heard in a movie. The movie, when it was all said and done, was mostly just a big slap to my intelligence and to my understanding of how humans really behave.

If you want to see Saffron Burrows take a big step as an actress (or want to see this frighteningly skinny actress nude for long stretches), this movie might be for you. Otherwise, avoid it!

Melody "Mel" Wilder (Saffron Burrows) starts out this movie having a very bad day. Her laryngitis turns out to be inoperable throat cancer and she's given a month to live. She goes from the doctor's to work, where she's fired. From work she meets her boyfriend, who dumps her.

She sees an ad for loft living. The owner is selling the building, so she can only have the apartment for two months. She takes it, then starts buying everything under the sun to fill the place up, paying with her credit cards. After all, she's not going to be around to pay the bills. Her plan, go out in style in a stylish loft in lower Manhattan with a view of the Hudson river.

She has an affair with the deliver guy, another with the pizza girl, then with them both at the same time. So she's got stuff, got sex, but something's missing. We see flashbacks with Mel as a child who wants a red guitar more than anything. She'd wanted it so badly, she'd tried to steal it.

So, back in the present, she buys one. Buys three huge Marshall speakers and Marshall amps, too. She can blast her guitar lessons up and down the river if she wants and it's a good thing she got that guitar, because the delivery guy's wife is having a child, so he breaks off the affair. The pizza girl leaves Mel flat as well.

So what happens to this woman who is shopping her life away? That's the question. I have to say I thought the movie was going to be a stinker at first. And I wondered why she didn't lose the boyfriend first, then the job, then find out about the cancer, because it seems to me she wouldn't have cared about the job if she knew she only had a month to live. Still Saffron Burrows was brilliant in this film and soon she had me believing and I was surprised at how good I felt when the movie was finished. This is one gosh darned good feel good flick with a better than brilliant star (wait didn't I already say she was brilliant, I did, but I can't say it enough). You can't go wrong with this movie.

Mel Wilder (Saffron Burrows) just had the worst day of her life. Diagnosed with cancer, fired, and dumped by her spineless, pansy of a boyfriend, her life is in chaos. After a short bout with depression about her predicament, most notably the two months she has been given to live, Mel decides to go crazy and flip her life upside down. Eschewing her possessions, it becomes a race against time as she rents a pricy loft downtown and begins a quest to max out every credit card she has with ridiculously pricy and ostentatious purchases - essentially a bucket list for women.

Along the way Mel experiments with food, life, sexuality, and most importantly music. Interspersed with dream-life flashbacks of a young Mel nearly drooling at the site of a red guitar in the window of a music store below her family's apartment, the plot moves toward an association between her spiritual awakening through music. As she nears her presumed end, it's the music that she savors the most; it's the music and the guitar that she holds on to the longest.

The acting from Wilder is superb. Considering the fact that she carries nearly the entire movie, her troubled expressions and quivering voice exude sorrow. When the purchases begin, however, her mood begins to change, and her metamorphosis begins. The concept is also interesting; told from the perspective of someone who is literally dying, it's difficult to comprehend what one would do (tip: Stay far away from me if I'm in this situation. The results will be more like a horror movie than a drama.) The biggest problem with the movie is its slow pacing. It's unbearably boring at times, with extended scenes of Wilder just reading off credit card numbers while on a banana-shaped phone. As she orders from catalog after catalog, it ends up being a QVC addict's wet dream. The supporting actors are average at best, if not a bit amateur. Aside from the incessant shopping spree and the supporting acting, however, is the problem with the lackluster ending. It's an incomplete resolution or final outcome, and we're shown neither her understanding of the life changing metamorphosis, nor of her true rebirth/second chance at life.

Some will love this movie, and I can understand that completely. Even though it's not my cup o' tea, I've already recommended it to a co-worker.

"The Guitar"
(Anchor Bay, 2007)
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ATTN: Spoilersville, if it matters...
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In the same day, a New Yorker named Melodie Wilder (played by Saffron Burroughs) gets fired, gets dumped by her boyfriend and is told she has incurable cancer, and only about a month to live. Being, understandably, a bit bummed out by all this bad news, she opts to drop out from life -- but instead of going to an ashram in the Himalayas, she rents a ginormous, empty loft apartment with a view of the river, picks up the phone and orders everything she possibly can from every catalog imaginable. She has pretty terrible taste (the most expensive of everything!) except for one thing: a red electric guitar just like the one she always wanted as a kid. Although she's cut herself off from humanity, companionship has a way of finding her nonetheless, as she hooks up with the UPS driver and the pizza delivery girl, although her truest companion, predictably, turns out to be the guitar.

It's hard to connect with this protagonist -- she's unsympathetic and remote and her retreat into sheer, unfettered materialism plays out like a Restoration Hardware wet dream, even though, obviously, she's headed for a fall, and must learn that the good things in life can't be bought. Anyway, this is a *very* student-film-y film, and although it has interesting touches, there was nothing in it that wasn't utterly predictable, no real surprises for me, even the big twist ending. (Well, except for in the very beginning when the character was told she had esophageal cancer, and I found my own throat tightening uncomfortably, in a sympathy-pain self-suggestion thing, sort of like when men talk about getting kicked in the 'nads... Ugh! Can't breathe!) I didn't find the story and the delivery very plausible or convincing, so it never really drew me in, but I suppose it's an okay movie, worth checking out, if you go for on-the-nose art films.

Have you ever had a bad day? Poor Mel Wilder (Saffron Burrow) has one of the worst days of her life when she finds out that has terminal cancer, loses her job and is dumped by her boyfriend. She goes into a deep state of depression but eventually decides to live out her final two months of life in lavish excellence. This sounds like a great beginning to a wonderful story. Instead, it's nothing more than the highlight of a hum-drum film.

Mel rents a fancy penthouse, maxes out her credit cards on all sorts of things including fine bedding, gourmet take-out and beautiful clothes. She also seeks out a red Fender Strat that she's wanted ever since she was a child. She even goes so far as to fulfill her carnal fantasies, utilizing a delivery man (Issac De Bankole) and a pizza delivery girl (Paz De La Huerta) to achieve her goals.

Eventually, a twist is thrown into Mel's life that makes you think that the story is going to get better. Unfortunately for Mel (and director Amy Redford), the story remains as bland and uneventful as it is from the beginning.

Despite giving a decent performance, Saffron Burrows failed to captivate me as Mel. In fact, the character wasn't that likeable at all. I really couldn't care less about what happens to her in the end. Issac De Bankole and Paz De La Huerta are solid in their supporting roles, but don't have enough to work with to really stand out from this dull film.

So why three stars? There are a few highlights in this film. The beginning is very good, and the relationships that Mel forms in her final days are interesting, but never really fleshed out. There's also quite a few steamy scenes in this film that I'm sure many viewers will enjoy. This is basically what saves this film from being a complete waste of time.

Arthouse fans will probably eat this up, thinking that they see something in this film that the average viewer can't grasp. Call me average, but I just don't see any reason to purchase this film. Rent it for the supporting cast and then return it the next night for something better.

If you haven't already noticed, the reviews for The Guitar are all over the map. Clearly this isn't a movie for everyone, and I confess that at about 40 minutes into the film I was wondering if it was even for me. But two days after watching it, I'm still haunted by Saffron Burrows' performance and the incredibly subtle way the story unfolds.

Melody Wilder (Burrows) experiences what has to be trifecta of life altering events, all within one morning. First her doctor (played by Janeane Garofalo) informs her that her "feeling crappy" is due to laryngeal cancer, and that she has at best two months to live. Next, she dazedly reports to her job in a Dilbertarian cubicle silo only to discover that she's being laid off. Turning to her boyfriend for support, he informs her that they need to break up as he feels "smothered." You can be excused for thinking at this point that you're in for yet another free spending "max out the credit cards spending spree" kind of story. Okay... well that's "kind" of what happens, but somehow things progress differently from most "I may as well enjoy my final days" thrill rides.

Mel leaves her basement apartment (and everything in it) for a huge loft bereft of anything other than a basic kitchen and chucks what little she has out the window. At this point, a conventional cineplex movie would feature a scene of gratuitous nudity with an overbearing musical score as Mel moves/dances her way through the cavernous empty space. But to the disappointment of adolescent males everywhere, it's nothing like that. Naked Mel basically retreats into a fetal position (all the more odd given the overall size of the loft) and just waits. Reality sets in with the appearance of the phone installer who she allows in thanks to a quick transformation of some window coverings into a full length wrap.

From there, Mel basically coexists with the world outside the loft through her new banana-shaped phone, ordering food and furnishings (through the largess of her apparently high credit card limits). The crown jewel of these purchases is a red Stratocaster electric guitar, similar to the one she had desired as a young girl. While learning to play the guitar through a DVD, she begins to connect with two individuals, Roscoe (the parcel delivery man) and Cookie (the pizza pie deliverer). From there, the only remaining part of this minimalist plot that I will share is that the obvious max-out day of reckoning will occur for Mel. Yet there will be a surprise or two.

The plot line is minimal, yet the character development is fascinating to watch thanks to Ms. Burrows (who won't remind you at all of the predatory beauty that she played on Boston Legal). If my description thus far hasn't given you a clue, just take note. If your tastes in movies include blazing gun play, explosions, fart jokes and pratfalls... do not... under any circumstances buy/rent/watch The Guitar!

But if you have patience, and appreciate a nominal story line with a subtle performance, I highly recommend this. The Guitar worthy of its Sundance Film Festival status... irrespective of the fact that Amy Redford (you know who's daughter) is the director.

"THE GUITAR" marks the directorial debut of actress Amy Redford and focuses on the character of Melody "Mel" Wilder (Saffron Burrows), a woman who has one of the worst days anyone can live.

Mel has been laid off from her office job due to downsizing, then when she goes to meet her boyfriend and tell him the bad news, he tells her that he needs his space because she's suffocating him and leaves her. And what better way to end a crappy day by being told by your doctor that you are going to die from cancer and you have two months to live.

For Mel, having been diagnosed with inoperable cancer in her throat and losing everything in her life, she contemplates ending her life but manages to see an ad about a loft being rented out for a very short time.

Mel, decides that if she's going to die, she's going to enjoy her last weeks by doing the things that she dreams of.

She rents the pretty spacious and beautiful loft, ditches all her clothing (thus living in the loft naked) and with her three credit cards, starts going on a spending rampage. Ordering a Vera Wang mattress, ordering a genuine leather couch, and so many designer vases, lamps and clothing. She also decides to change her eating habits by straying away from her vegan life and eating whatever she wants, including expensive meals and putting it all on her credit card.

But each time she sleeps, in her dreams we see how Mel, as a young girl has always desired a red electric guitar. As a child that is passionate about music, her parents never could buy her an electric guitar but she feels that why not do it now. So, she buys top notch amps, speakers and a classic electric guitar and learns to play it.

While she lives this life, she constantly meets her delivery man Roscoe (played by Issach De Bankole) and her pizza delivery girl Cookie (Paz de la Huerta).

Roscoe is a married man but somehow is attracted to Mel and the same can be said for Cookie and next thing you know, Mel starts having passionate sex with Roscoe and Cookie, separately and eventually, a Ménage à trois.

For Mel, living the last weeks of her life and experience the material things, the foods and the company of people that she would have never have had in her life and knowing how it has brought her happiness but somewhat acceptance of her own mortality.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

"THE GUITAR" is presented in 1:78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen. The film tends to exhibit a lot of grain since there are a lot of low-light, indoor scenes. But overall, during well-lit scenes, the video is good.

Audio is presented in Dolby Surround 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0. The film is strictly a dialogue film but music, especially when Mel plays the electric guitar really comes out quite well through your front channel speakers.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

Although it is not mentioned on the DVD and nor is it listed under special features, you can access the optional audio commentary by Director Amy Redford under the setup menu. Really good commentary and Amy Redford sets up certain scenes from the crowd shots, buildings used, having a closed set due to Saffron's nudity in the film. Very informative and well-done commentary by Redford.

JUDGMENT CALL:

"THE GUITAR" is definitely a enjoyable film and it's quite rare to see a film like this. Erotic, stylish, fun... I have to say that Saffron Burrows really brought her A-game in portraying the character of Mel and what she wants to experience in life as she faces mortality. She did a fantastic job for this role.

I have to admit, I was surprised by the amount of nudity and love making in this film. Having seen Saffron Burrows (TV shows such as "My Own Worst Enemy" and "Boston Legal") in many roles on television but then to watch her nude on the first half of the film and see how erotic this role was.

But as much as the film featured erotic scenes, its the actual cinematography and overall direction from Mel being in this dark place and then being awakened and leaving her old life and belongings and then just changing her life and living the way she has always wanted for her last two months of life. There are some memorable imagery from Mel playing the guitar, the candles lit throughout her apartment, Mel throwing her trash out the window and many more memorable scenes.

As much as I enjoyed this film, if I had to nitpick on something is the lack of special features on the DVD. I wish there were interviews with the talent especially with Burrows. But for those wondering if the message of the film shows that one who is dying should max out their credit cards in order to have this freedom to own things out of one's financial reach, Mel does face trouble because of her spending and has to make difficult decisions at the end of the film.

Again, a wonderful performance by Saffron Burrows who did a great job in making this role believable and making the film shine! This is a rare type of film to see and overall, it was quite entertaining. Highly recommended!

I happen to be one of those who enjoy independent films, and this film fits the mold. A lot of people apparently did not like this movie. I think it is because they entirely miss the story's moral: Pursue the one thing in your life that brings you peace and happiness. I, for one, highly recommend this film.