- Honeydripper (film)
Infobox Film
name = Honeydripper
caption = Theatrical poster
director =John Sayles
producer = Maggie Renzi
writer = John Sayles
narrator =
starring =Danny Glover Keb' Mo' Mable John Kel Mitchell
music =Mason Daring
cinematography = Dick Pope
editing = John Sayles
distributor =Emerging Pictures
Axiom Films
released =September 10 ,2007 (Toronto Film Festival)December 28 ,2007 (U.S.A.)
runtime = 123 minutes
country = United States
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
website = http://www.emergingpictures.com/honeydripper.htm
amg_id = 1:360557
imdb_id = 0829193"Honeydripper" is a 2007 American musical
drama film written and directed byJohn Sayles .imdb title|id=0829193|title=Honeydripper. Last accessed:January 11 ,2008 .]Plot
Filmed and set in
Alabama , the film starsDanny Glover as the owner of a blues club that is failing until he hires a youngelectric guitar ist (Gary Clark, Jr.). The film also stars musicianKeb' Mo' , actor/comedianKel Mitchell , and singerMable John .Rhythm and blues singerRuth Brown recorded some songs for the film, and was cast to play a role, but died before filming started. [Cite news
last = Gritten
first = David
title = Honeydripper: at the birth of rock and roll
work = The Telegraph
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2008-05-01
url = http://www.telegraph.co.uk/arts/main.jhtml?xml=/arts/2008/05/01/bmsayles101.xml]Cast
*
Danny Glover as Tyrone "Pine Top" Purvis
*Lisa Gay Hamilton as Delilah
*Yaya DaCosta as China Doll
*Charles S. Dutton as Maceo
*Vondie Curtis Hall as Slick
* Gary Clark, Jr. as Sonny Blake
*Mable John as Bertha Mae
*Stacy Keach as Sheriff Pugh
* Nagee Clay as Scratch
* Absalom Adams as Lonnie
* Arthur Lee Williams as Metalmouth Sims
*Ruben Santiago-Hudson as Stokely
* Davenia McFadden as Nadine
* Daryl Edwards Shack as Thomas
*Sean Patrick Thomas as Dex
*Keb' Mo' as Possum
*Kel Mitchell as Junebug
*Mary Steenburgen as Amanda WinshipCritical reception
Stephen Holden, the film critic for "
The New York Times ", was disappointed in the film script and wrote, "While operating on a mythic level "Honeydripper" also wants to create the same kind of top-to-bottom social microcosm found in many of Mr. Sayles’s films. But this time his attempt to have his characters be simultaneously symbolic and real works at cross purposes. He is so uncomfortable writing dialogue in an old-time Southern argot that the conversations in "Honeydripper" rarely settle into the easy, colorfully idiomatic flow that has always been a hallmark of Southern speech. Hard as they try to break through the stiffness, the film’s fine actors only fitfully succeed in camouflaging the machinery behind their characters." [Cite news
last = Holden
first = Stephen
title = Way Down in Harmony, With Mythic Blues Again
work = The New York Times
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2007-12-28
url = http://movies.nytimes.com/2007/12/28/movies/28hone.html]John Anderson, film critic for "Variety" magazine, liked the film, and lauded the musical in his review. He wrote, "John Sayles the storyteller and John Sayles the political progressive haven't always played well together, but, in the endearing musical time-piece "Honeydripper," the indie icon lets his narrative gifts take the lead and the social issues follow like a tight bass line. The result is one of Sayles' best films. The music, a mix of blues, seminal rock and newcomer Gary Clark Jr.'s performance, will be an obvious draw, as will the performances by some leading African-American actors." [Cite news
last = Anderson
first = John
title = Honeydripper
work = Variety
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2007-11-09
url = http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117934684.html?categoryid=31%02cs=1&cs=1]Critic Kirk Honeycutt was uncomfortable with the stereotypes in the film but praised it due to Sayles' film background. He wrote, "...the film makes you at times uncomfortable with black and Southern stereotypes that may hinder some from fully enjoying an otherwise benign and cheerful tall tale of the Saturday night when rock came to rural Alabama. Sayles has paid far too many dues as a man who can write smoothly and in depth about many regions of America for a critical response to attack him over this. But the images and caricatures of a blind guitar picker, redneck sheriff, revival meetings, cotton-picking, fights in juke joints and the like have all been evoked in so many movies of much less integrity that this is a thing one must get past before surrendering to his amusing backwater fable.... The film does feature a host of interesting characters and, as always with Sayles, the dialogue has more than a few zingers. The well-cast actors are all solid, more than solid even, but as the director-editor Sayles lets the pace slacken too often." [Cite news
last = Honeycutt
first = Krik
title = Honeydripper
work = The Hollywood Reporter
accessdate = 2008-05-14
date = 2007-09-12
url = http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/film/reviews/article_display.jsp?rid=9800]Distribution
"Honeydripper" had its world premiere on September 10 at the
2007 Toronto International Film Festival . It also screened at theSan Sebastián International Film Festival , theLondon Film Festival , the St. Louis International Film Festival and the San Joaquin Film Festival.The film had a limited release in the United States on December 28, 2007, with a release in the United Kingdom set for April 28, 2008.
References
External links
*
*
* [http://honeydripper-movie.com/ "Honeydripper"] official web site
* [http://www.greencine.com/central/johnsayles John Sayles] interview at GreenCine by Cathleen Rountree
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=tZKucuHarJw John Sayles] interview onYou Tube
* [http://youtube.com/watch?v=1aoHf9QP7zY Yaya DaCosta] interview on You Tube
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