Title: One More Time
Director: Robert Edwards
Starring: Christopher Walken, Amber Heard, Kelli Garner, Hamish Linklater, Oliver Platt, Ann Magnuson.
‘One More Time’ gathers a terrific cast to stage the story of a musician’s incongruence betwixt his romantic repertoire and his tumultuous private affairs. A rather familiar tune that does not surprise or entertain.
Jude (Amber Heard) is an aspiring rock star who is at crossroads in her life, with no clear path to take. She is relegated to recording commercial jingles and distracts herself with one night stands. When she is evicted from her Brooklyn apartment, she is forced to move into the Hamptons home of her wealthy and narcissistic father, Paul Lombard (Christopher Walken), a downfallen Sinatra-esque crooner angling for a musical comeback. As the two reunite, Jude is forced to confront her problems, including troubled relationships with her father, her overachieving sister (Kelli Garner), and her brother-in-law and former lover (Hamish Linklater). As Jude and Paul argue uncompromisingly, they unexpectedly find themselves on a journey that may redefine their lives.
Amber Heard is pretty rock n’roll with her pink mane, and demonstrates once again her versatile acting skills, as she sings and interprets the damaged musician’s daughter without getting carried away by schmaltz. Christopher Walken handles his cliched character with authenticity, although audiences have grown weary of stories regarding artists known for being purveyors of romance whose personal life is in utter contrast with their public image. The tombeurs de femmes, who sentimentally wreck their families, are obsolete.
However, while Paul glorifies the hippy rebelliousness and Jude embraces the post-punk ethos, the two lost souls somehow manage to bring to the silver screen a very special love affair that is often neglected by cinema: that between a father and his daughter.
Technical: B
Acting: B+
Story: C
Overall: B-
Written by: Chiara Spagnoli Gabardi
