A Love Song for Bobby Long
Encyclopedia
A Love Song for Bobby Long is a 2004 American drama film
written and directed by Shainee Gabel. The screenplay is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps.
and William Faulkner
, the story focuses on eighteen-year-old Purslane Hominy Will, who leaves the Florida
trailer park where she lives with her abusive boyfriend to return to her hometown of New Orleans following the drug overdose death of her jazz singer mother Lorraine, a free spirit she hadn't seen for several years. The girl is startled to discover one-time Auburn University
professor of literature Bobby Long and his protégé
and former teaching assistant, struggling writer Lawson Pines, living in her dilapidated childhood home. Both men are heavy drinkers who spend their days smoking numerous cigarettes, quoting Dylan Thomas
, Benjamin Franklin
, and T.S. Eliot, playing chess, and spending time with the neighbors while Bobby strums a guitar and sings melancholy country-folk songs. The two convince Pursy her mother left the house to all three of them, although in reality she is the sole heir and the time they legally are allowed to remain in it is limited by the terms of the will.
Pursy moves in and proves to be the most responsible and sensible member of the dysfunctional family
the three create. The men's efforts to drive her away gradually abate as they grow fond of her with the passing of time. Bobby - unshaven, slovenly, and suffering from ailments he prefers to ignore - attempts to improve the lot of the young girl by introducing her to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
and encouraging her to return to high school and get her diploma. Lawson, suffering from writer's block
, finds himself attracted to Pursy but hesitant to complicate his life further by becoming involved with her. Memories of Lorraine linger for all of them, especially Pursy, who vividly recalls her mother ignoring her in favor of pursuing a career. Her sense of who her mother was is altered somewhat when she finds a cache of letters Lorraine wrote her but never mailed, letters that lead her to discover not only how her mother really felt about her, but the true identity of her father as well.
.
The soundtrack
includes "Someday" by Los Lobos
, "Bone" by Thalia Zedek
, "Lonesome Blues" by Lonnie Pitchford
, "Different Stars" and "Lie in the Sound" by Trespassers William
, "All I Ask is Your Love" by Helen Humes
, "Rising Son" by Big Bill Morganfield
, "Praying Ground Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins
, "Blonde on Blonde" by Nada Surf
, and the title track, "A Love Song For Bobby Long" by Grayson Capps, who happens to be the son of the writer (Ronald Everett Capps) of the novel that the film is based on.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival
in September 2004. In order to qualify for Academy Award consideration, it opened on eight screens in New York City
and Los Angeles
on December 29, 2004, earning $28,243 on its opening weekend. It played in only 24 theaters in the US at its widest release, and eventually grossed $164,308 domestically and $1,676,952 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office
of $1,841,260.
of the New York Times called the film "another example of Hollywood's going soft and squishy when it goes South. Southerners' blood is redder and richer than everyone else's, we are asked to believe, and their secrets are darker. It must be from all that heat and humidity and time spent marinating in the sun." He added, "[I]t dawdles along aimlessly for nearly two hours before coming up with a final revelation that is no surprise." He felt John Travolta was playing "a hammed-up, scenery-chewing variation of the brainy good ol' boy he played in Primary Colors," and thought Gabriel Macht's "understated performance" was "the deepest and subtlest of the three."
Roger Ebert
of the Chicago Sun-Times
observed, "What can be said is that the three actors inhabit this material with ease and gratitude: It is good to act on a simmer sometimes, instead of at a fast boil. It's unusual to find an American movie that takes its time. It's remarkable to listen to dialogue that assumes the audience is well-read. It is refreshing to hear literate conversation. These are modest pleasures, but real enough."
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times
said the film "is, deep-down, a redemptive makeover story drenched in alcohol, Southern literature and the damp romanticism of the bohemian lush life in New Orleans. A lovely noble rot pervades the film in much the same way that it does the city, a longtime repository of lost-cause romanticism. If there's something a little bit moldy about the setup (drunken literary types, hope on the doorstep, healing from beyond the grave), the movie is no less charming or involving for it, and it's no less pleasant to succumb to its wayward allure and wastrel lyricism. Among other things, the characters . . . really know how to turn a phrase, in itself a pleasure so rare it all but demands any flaws be forgiven."
Peter Travers
of Rolling Stone
rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "an elegant mess." He added, "The actors labor to perform a rescue operation . . . What doesn't help is that [Johansson] and Macht are both too gym-toned and poised for their loser characters. It's the stunning location photography of camera ace Elliot Davis that provides what the movie itself lacks: authenticity."
format on April 19, 2005. It has audio tracks and subtitles in English, French, and Portuguese. Bonus features include commentary with screenwriter/director Shainee Gabel and cinematographer Elliot Davis, deleted scenes, and Behind the Scenes of A Love Song for Bobby Long with cast and crew interviews.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
written and directed by Shainee Gabel. The screenplay is based on the novel Off Magazine Street by Ronald Everett Capps.
Plot
Combining elements of Tennessee WilliamsTennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
and William Faulkner
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner was an American writer from Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner worked in a variety of media; he wrote novels, short stories, a play, poetry, essays and screenplays during his career...
, the story focuses on eighteen-year-old Purslane Hominy Will, who leaves the Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
trailer park where she lives with her abusive boyfriend to return to her hometown of New Orleans following the drug overdose death of her jazz singer mother Lorraine, a free spirit she hadn't seen for several years. The girl is startled to discover one-time Auburn University
Auburn University
Auburn University is a public university located in Auburn, Alabama, United States. With more than 25,000 students and 1,200 faculty members, it is one of the largest universities in the state. Auburn was chartered on February 7, 1856, as the East Alabama Male College, a private liberal arts...
professor of literature Bobby Long and his protégé
Mentorship
Mentorship refers to a personal developmental relationship in which a more experienced or more knowledgeable person helps a less experienced or less knowledgeable person....
and former teaching assistant, struggling writer Lawson Pines, living in her dilapidated childhood home. Both men are heavy drinkers who spend their days smoking numerous cigarettes, quoting Dylan Thomas
Dylan Thomas
Dylan Marlais Thomas was a Welsh poet and writer, Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 11 January 2008. who wrote exclusively in English. In addition to poetry, he wrote short stories and scripts for film and radio, which he often performed himself...
, Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, and T.S. Eliot, playing chess, and spending time with the neighbors while Bobby strums a guitar and sings melancholy country-folk songs. The two convince Pursy her mother left the house to all three of them, although in reality she is the sole heir and the time they legally are allowed to remain in it is limited by the terms of the will.
Pursy moves in and proves to be the most responsible and sensible member of the dysfunctional family
Dysfunctional family
A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehavior, and often abuse on the part of individual members occur continually and regularly, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is...
the three create. The men's efforts to drive her away gradually abate as they grow fond of her with the passing of time. Bobby - unshaven, slovenly, and suffering from ailments he prefers to ignore - attempts to improve the lot of the young girl by introducing her to The Heart is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter
The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter is the debut 1940 novel by American author Carson McCullers. Written in Charlotte, North Carolina, in houses on Central Avenue and East Boulevard, it is about a deaf man named John Singer and the people he encounters in a 1930s mill town in the US state of Georgia...
and encouraging her to return to high school and get her diploma. Lawson, suffering from writer's block
Writer's block
Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing as a profession, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work. The condition varies widely in intensity. It can be trivial, a temporary difficulty in dealing with the task at hand. At the other extreme, some "blocked"...
, finds himself attracted to Pursy but hesitant to complicate his life further by becoming involved with her. Memories of Lorraine linger for all of them, especially Pursy, who vividly recalls her mother ignoring her in favor of pursuing a career. Her sense of who her mother was is altered somewhat when she finds a cache of letters Lorraine wrote her but never mailed, letters that lead her to discover not only how her mother really felt about her, but the true identity of her father as well.
Production
The film was shot on location in New Orleans and Gretna, LouisianaGretna, Louisiana
The city of Gretna is the parish seat of Jefferson Parish, in the US state of Louisiana. Gretna is on the west bank of the Mississippi River, just east and across the river from uptown New Orleans. It is part of the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner Metropolitan Statistical Area...
.
The soundtrack
Soundtrack
A soundtrack can be recorded music accompanying and synchronized to the images of a motion picture, book, television program or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack of a film or TV show; or the physical area of a film that contains the...
includes "Someday" by Los Lobos
Los Lobos
Los Lobos are a multiple Grammy Award–winning American Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños.-History:The...
, "Bone" by Thalia Zedek
Thalia Zedek
Thalia Zedek is an American singer and guitarist. Active since the early 1980s, she has been a member of several notable alternative rock groups, including Live Skull and Come...
, "Lonesome Blues" by Lonnie Pitchford
Lonnie Pitchford
Lonnie Pitchford was an American blues musician and instrument maker from Lexington, Mississippi. He was notable in that he was one of only a handful of young African American musicians from Mississippi who had learned and was continuing the Delta blues and country blues traditions of the older...
, "Different Stars" and "Lie in the Sound" by Trespassers William
Trespassers William
Trespassers William are an indie rock/dream pop band known for their ethereal music. Hailing from Southern California, they work and live in the Sodo/Capitol Hill area of Seattle, Washington. Their latest release is the 2009 EP, The Natural Order of Things. They are currently working on their...
, "All I Ask is Your Love" by Helen Humes
Helen Humes
Helen Humes was an American jazz and blues singer.Humes was successively a teenaged blues singer, band vocalist with Count Basie, saucy R&B diva and a mature interpreter of the classy popular song.-Career:...
, "Rising Son" by Big Bill Morganfield
Big Bill Morganfield
William "Big Bill" Morganfield is an American blues singer and guitarist, who is the son of Muddy Waters.-Biography:Morganfield was born in Chicago, Illinois, but had little contact with his famous father, whose real name was McKinley Morganfield. Instead he was raised in Southern Florida by his...
, "Praying Ground Blues" by Lightnin' Hopkins
Lightnin' Hopkins
Sam John Hopkins better known as Lightnin’ Hopkins, was an American country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist and occasional pianist, from Houston, Texas...
, "Blonde on Blonde" by Nada Surf
Nada Surf
Nada Surf is an American alternative rock band. Formed in 1992, the New York band consists of Matthew Caws , Ira Elliot and Daniel Lorca .-Early years:...
, and the title track, "A Love Song For Bobby Long" by Grayson Capps, who happens to be the son of the writer (Ronald Everett Capps) of the novel that the film is based on.
The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival
Venice Film Festival
The Venice International Film Festival is the oldest international film festival in the world. Founded by Count Giuseppe Volpi in 1932 as the "Esposizione Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica", the festival has since taken place every year in late August or early September on the island of the...
in September 2004. In order to qualify for Academy Award consideration, it opened on eight screens in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
and Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
on December 29, 2004, earning $28,243 on its opening weekend. It played in only 24 theaters in the US at its widest release, and eventually grossed $164,308 domestically and $1,676,952 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office
Box office
A box office is a place where tickets are sold to the public for admission to an event. Patrons may perform the transaction at a countertop, through an unblocked hole through a wall or window, or at a wicket....
of $1,841,260.
Cast
- John TravoltaJohn TravoltaJohn Joseph Travolta is an American actor, dancer and singer. Travolta first became known in the 1970s, after appearing on the television series Welcome Back, Kotter and starring in the box office successes Saturday Night Fever and Grease...
..... Bobby Long - Scarlett JohanssonScarlett JohanssonScarlett Johansson is an American actress, model and singer.Johansson made her film debut in North and was later nominated for the Independent Spirit Award for Best Female Lead for her performance in Manny & Lo . She rose to further prominence with her roles in The Horse Whisperer and Ghost World...
..... Purslane Will - Gabriel MachtGabriel MachtGabriel S. Macht is an American actor. Macht is known for playing The Spirit in the film of the same name, and lately for his role as Harvey Specter on the USA Network series Suits.-Personal life:...
..... Lawson Pines - Deborah Kara UngerDeborah Kara UngerDeborah Kara Unger is a Canadian actress. She is known for her roles in the films Crash , The Game , The Hurricane , White Noise , Silent Hill and 88 Minutes...
..... Georgianna - Clayne CrawfordClayne CrawfordClayne Crawford is an American film actor with a few episodic television appearances. Crawford has appeared in such films as A Walk to Remember , Swimfan , A Love Song for Bobby Long and The Great Raid . He had a recurring role in the first season of Jericho as Mitchell "Mitch" Cafferty...
..... Lee
Critical reception
Stephen HoldenStephen Holden
Stephen Holden is an American writer, music critic, film critic, and poet.Holden earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English from Yale University in 1963...
of the New York Times called the film "another example of Hollywood's going soft and squishy when it goes South. Southerners' blood is redder and richer than everyone else's, we are asked to believe, and their secrets are darker. It must be from all that heat and humidity and time spent marinating in the sun." He added, "[I]t dawdles along aimlessly for nearly two hours before coming up with a final revelation that is no surprise." He felt John Travolta was playing "a hammed-up, scenery-chewing variation of the brainy good ol' boy he played in Primary Colors," and thought Gabriel Macht's "understated performance" was "the deepest and subtlest of the three."
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Roger Joseph Ebert is an American film critic and screenwriter. He is the first film critic to win a Pulitzer Prize for Criticism.Ebert is known for his film review column and for the television programs Sneak Previews, At the Movies with Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert, and Siskel and Ebert and The...
of the Chicago Sun-Times
Chicago Sun-Times
The Chicago Sun-Times is an American daily newspaper published in Chicago, Illinois. It is the flagship paper of the Sun-Times Media Group.-History:The Chicago Sun-Times is the oldest continuously published daily newspaper in the city...
observed, "What can be said is that the three actors inhabit this material with ease and gratitude: It is good to act on a simmer sometimes, instead of at a fast boil. It's unusual to find an American movie that takes its time. It's remarkable to listen to dialogue that assumes the audience is well-read. It is refreshing to hear literate conversation. These are modest pleasures, but real enough."
Carina Chocano of the Los Angeles Times
Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
said the film "is, deep-down, a redemptive makeover story drenched in alcohol, Southern literature and the damp romanticism of the bohemian lush life in New Orleans. A lovely noble rot pervades the film in much the same way that it does the city, a longtime repository of lost-cause romanticism. If there's something a little bit moldy about the setup (drunken literary types, hope on the doorstep, healing from beyond the grave), the movie is no less charming or involving for it, and it's no less pleasant to succumb to its wayward allure and wastrel lyricism. Among other things, the characters . . . really know how to turn a phrase, in itself a pleasure so rare it all but demands any flaws be forgiven."
Peter Travers
Peter Travers
Peter Travers is an American film critic, who has written for, in turn, People and Rolling Stone. Travers also hosts a celebrity interview show called Popcorn on ABC News Now and ABCNews.com.-Career:...
of Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
rated the film two out of four stars, calling it "an elegant mess." He added, "The actors labor to perform a rescue operation . . . What doesn't help is that [Johansson] and Macht are both too gym-toned and poised for their loser characters. It's the stunning location photography of camera ace Elliot Davis that provides what the movie itself lacks: authenticity."
Awards and nominations
Scarlett Johansson was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama.DVD release
The DVD was released in anamorphic widescreenAnamorphic widescreen
Anamorphic widescreen, when applied to DVD manufacture, is a video process that horizontally squeezes a widescreen image so that it can be stored in a standard 4:3 aspect ratio DVD image frame. Compatible playback equipment can then re-expand the horizontal dimension to show the original widescreen...
format on April 19, 2005. It has audio tracks and subtitles in English, French, and Portuguese. Bonus features include commentary with screenwriter/director Shainee Gabel and cinematographer Elliot Davis, deleted scenes, and Behind the Scenes of A Love Song for Bobby Long with cast and crew interviews.