{"id":19770,"date":"2020-01-08T14:42:36","date_gmt":"2020-01-08T22:42:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/?p=19770"},"modified":"2020-01-08T14:42:36","modified_gmt":"2020-01-08T22:42:36","slug":"the-song-of-names-has-some-miscues-but-still-delivers-a-fine-melody","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/?p=19770","title":{"rendered":"THE SONG OF NAMES Has Some Miscues, But Still Delivers a Fine Melody"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/24_0008_B-merged.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-10620\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Life can take us all on different paths, but some unexpected\nseparations lead to a lack of closure, unanswered questions and longstanding hurt\nfeelings. <em>The Song of Names<\/em> is a historical drama that tells one such\nstory, spanning several decades and crossing continents as one driven man\nattempts to find out what happened to his childhood best friend who vanished\nwithout a trace.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Song-of-Names-tim-roth-FIXED-1024x497.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19771\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The frustrated figure is Martin (Tim Roth), who has never\ngotten over the sudden disappearance of Dovidl (Clive Owen), a Polish migrant to\nLondon and musical prodigy taken in by the boy\u2019s father during the outbreak of\nWorld War II. The movie cuts back and forth between different time periods,\nchronicling the pair\u2019s tempestuous and competitive relationship. Dovidl is a brilliant\nviolinist and an arrogant one at that, causing much tension between the\nyoungsters. However, a positive friendship slowly forms, only to be shattered\nwithout warning. Many years later, when new information is revealed to Martin\nthat may lead him to Dovidl, he follows the trail in the hopes of learning what\nhappened. &nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This movie veers from the familiar Hollywood formula in a\nvariety of ways. Martin\u2019s relentlessness in pursuing Dovidl isn\u2019t for a\nharmonious reunion and need to catch up. It\u2019s to confront and chastise his\nfriend for his actions, which broke the heart of his own father who acted as\nbenefactor for the youngster\u2019s musical development. As mentioned, the violinist\nis hardly a swell guy either; many of his decisions in life are selfish and made\nwithout the consideration of others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Song-of-Names-kids-street-1024x585.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19772\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In general, the motivations of the characters are left open\nto interpretation. Even the father\u2019s reasons for taking Dovidl in are uncertain\nand suggest that it may have been as much to do with profit and prestige as\nhelping the boy out. The gray aspects surrounding these characters might be\ndifficult for audiences to relate to and empathize with and the movie doesn\u2019t\nfeel compelled to spell anything out. However, the technique does add\ndimensions and complexity to these people. Their story wouldn\u2019t be nearly as\ninteresting if they followed traditional arcs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tim Roth effectively delivers Martin\u2019s inner turmoil and\nexasperation, searching for answers to questions that have been plaguing him\nhis whole life. However, Owen seems miscast as Dovidl. He\u2019s perfectly\nacceptable in the role, but looks more the part of a Hollywood star in exaggerated\nhair and beard appliances instead of a reclusive and tortured soul. It\u2019s\nadmittedly tough to buy into the adult version of the character. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Song-of-Names-tim-roth-field.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19773\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Truthfully, one of the biggest benefits of the film are the\nexceptionally good performances by the juvenile cast members. More than half of\nthe picture follows the leads as children and teenagers. There\u2019s a lot of heavy\ndrama and subtext, and the young actors portraying Dovidl (Luke Doyle and Jonah\nHauer-King) and Martin (Misha Handley and Gerran Howell) are better than one\nwould expect. In fact, these sections of the picture may be its most effective.\n&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Canadian director Francois Gerard knows music, and many of\nhis films feature it prominently (two of which, <em>Thirty Two Short Films About\nGlenn Gould<\/em> and <em>The Red Violin<\/em>, are considered cinematic greats in\nhis homeland). Just like the music in his other films, the violin pieces and\ntitle track are very powerful in their performance and execution, helping things\nsignificantly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.cinemastance.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/Song-of-Names-owen-1024x569.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-19774\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Admittedly, bits and pieces of the picture don\u2019t work and\nthis effort doesn\u2019t match the filmmaker\u2019s best films. Yet even with its flaws,\nthe movie does keeps one\u2019s interest with its unusual characters and, at times, unpredictable\nnarrative. Overall, <em>The Song of Names<\/em> may have its share of miscues, but\nit still provides a fine melody worth hearing. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Life can take us all on different paths, but some unexpected separations lead to a lack of closure, unanswered questions and longstanding hurt feelings. The Song of Names is a historical drama that tells one such story, spanning several decades and crossing continents as one driven man attempts to find out what happened to his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":19775,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[198,4519,6251,7828,9201,14425,18684,22249,22250,22251,22252,22903,23837,24534],"class_list":["post-19770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-198","tag-clive-owen","tag-drama","tag-francois-gerard","tag-historical-drama","tag-music","tag-song-of-names","tag-the-song-of-names","tag-the-song-of-names-film-review","tag-the-song-of-names-movie-review","tag-the-song-of-names-review","tag-tim-roth","tag-violin","tag-wwii"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=19770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19770\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=19770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=19770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemastance.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=19770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}