MovieChat Forums > Greetings from Tim Buckley (2013) Discussion > Watched it last night...overall, job wel...

Watched it last night...overall, job well done!

posted 11 years ago by wmchase65
4 replies | jump to latest

I loved Jeff Buckley's album "Grace", and listened to him in the early 1990s..until his death in 1997. Even before his death, I found his life story fascinating, and I even went out the way to find some of his dad's music too (note: no youtube in 1990s!)...

So, after watching the movie, I guess the only (minor) criticism would be I believe it would be hard to follow the movie if you were not already aware of Jeff's (and Tim's) life stories..or, it would make it more difficult. My wife watched the movie with me, and I had to pause it and bring her up to speed on some of the "back story" so she could better understand things...

However, in all likelihood, I'm sure this film will primarily be viewed by Buckley fans....therefore, these folks are already attuned to the "back story"...

Otherwise, I thought the movie flowed very smoothly, and I particularly liked how Jeff's and Tim's lives were juxtaposed throughout the film.....job well done! Good film!

[–] notacastingcouch 11 years ago

How did you feel about performances?

I thought all the performers were so captivating on the stage in the concert scenes. You felt like you were actually watching a concert

[–] wmchase65 11 years ago

No question, the performances were excellent...I've listened to the St. Anne's performance many times...and (somehow) I always thought this tribute concert was Jeff performing alone..which was no the case...still, the music was awesome...the scene where Jeff and the studio musician (name?) start jamming "Grace" was "goose bump" material...!

[–] hedwig_fawkes 11 years ago

I agree with a lot of what you say. I thought the music and acting were the highlights. Penn has a pretty fantastic voice. He was brilliant in the record store scene.

And i like that they focused on Jeff's music and not his mythology.

[–] zqfangirl 10 years ago

Was very pleasantly surprised by this movie and feel it deserves more attention. I am a huge Jeff Buckley fan. Had the pleasure of seeing him in 1994 in a very small venue and i was captivated. I was genuinely affected by his death more than any other "celebrity" death I can think of and even now can have a tear in my eye listening to Grace. For these reasons i avoided watching this as, to be honest, i thought it would not be all that good. In the UK it came and went with a whimper and given the subject matter i assumed if it was any good i would have heard more about it. Decided to watch it eventually when i was catching up on Gossip Girl (yes i watch GG and i am ashamed) as i was intrigued by how Penn Badgely would play the role.

To my astonishment i thought he was great in it. I loved the atmosphere of the film and thought the music pieces were incredible. Really captured the feeling of a live gig. I was really amazed by Penn's vocals - no mean feat pulling of the voice of one of the most celebrated singers ever, but he nailed it.

There was such an air of melancholy running through the whole movie and i was pretty emotional by the end of it. Such a huge loss. Nearly 20 years on I still can't quite believe that Jeff is gone. That being said, watching this movie reminded me of what a gift the world had in Jeff while he was with us and we should focus on what we had rather than what we missed.