Four Last Songs

A Bittersweet, Gentle Comedy and Love Story
FOUR LAST SONGS is one of those little films that quietly turns a little comedy about seemingly incongruous situations into a finely spun series of love stories: father and daughter, man and woman, disparate brothers, lonely widows, and a village that loves its heritage. Writer/Director Francesca Joseph understands her craft and blends a well-paced story with a fine cast. The result is a heartwarming evening of entertainment.

On a small Mediterranean island (Mallorca/Balearic Islands) lives an odd group of expatriates. Larry (Stanley Tucci) is pianist from classical training who makes his living playing piano bar while he pines for the purity of classical music such as that of a deceased composer who lived on the island once wrote. His long term girlfriend Miranda (Jessica Stevenson) practices yoga and supports Larry's dreams. Sebastian (Hugh Bonneville) is a well to do, would be impresario who lives with his perpetually drunk and miscreant brother Dickie (Rhys...

A Real Little Gem
This movie is a real, little gem and has become one of my favourites! It is therefore quite disappointing that BBC Films as the producer hasn't been released it in Europe so far.

The story revolves around Larry (Stanley Tucci), a mediocre and chronically unsatisfied musician who has settled in the ex-pat community of a remote island village in the Mediterranean. Despite being tiny, the village is also famous for having been the home of a celebrated European composer. Although Larry initially hoped to absorb some of the dead man's glory, his modest talents have instead confined him to playing the piano in a local bar.
In a last effort to make his mark, Larry convinces the composer's widow (Marisa Paredes) to allow him staging a gala concert as tribute to the composer. However, his plans are increasingly put into jeopardy by the embittered widow's jealousy towards her husband's muse (Emmanuelle Seigner), who possesses the partiture of the master's unpublished last work,...

Lovely setting, Great Idea, But a Bit Weak Nonetheless
Disclaimer: I know most of the people on whom the characters are (loosely) based, and the area of the production (the village of Deia on the island of Mallorca), and the house in which it's set. I even happened to meet the director as they were getting ready to shoot the film, so I should have a natural tendency to praise this piece.

On the flip side, I've been a writer and, as a young pup, a movie theater manager, so I see a lot of film and video, which perhaps makes me a bit more, um, particular about film making.

The good stuff: The scenery is glorious, with or without the "homesick factor." The opening shot of the little church atop the mountain, with the several-hundred-year-old terraces of olives and fruit below, makes you want to call Iberia and book the next flight to Spain. The restaurant at the Cala, where you first see Miranda and Larry playing music together, is beautiful (great food, by the way) but looks more glamorous than in real life...

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