REQUIEM TO A RED GUITAR

I was slightly torn when thinking about adding “The Guitar” to the blog. As you know I usually only share films I genuinely and truly love. The Guitar, directed by Amy Redford (yes, as in the daughter of Robert Redford) was on the cusp for me. But in the end I felt I had to share this Sundance winner, because despite its faults (to my eyes) it does an excellent job of conveying other messages…
So, meet Melanie Wilder (Saffron Burrows). On the day we are introduced, she is not having a good day. She starts her day at the doctor’s office where she is told that she has a cancerous and inoperable growth in her throat that will slowly suffocate her over a period of no more than two months. She then goes to work, only to find out that she has been fired, as of that day, due to cutbacks. Melanie goes home, unsure of what to do… She then decides that as there is nothing to be done about the cancer, or the fact that she will die in two months, she will LIVE for her remaining days… So she gets out her savings and her credit cards and does just that. Rents a luxurious loft, fills it with all sorts of goods and last of all buys the red electro guitar she has always dreamed of and starts learning how to play. She then sets about making the best of her remaining time, in more senses than one…
The Guitar has actually very little to do with life or death. It does an excellent job of painting the contrast between our dreams and our realities, between being content with what life has dealt us and reaching out for more, doing whatever the hell we want for a change.. And we see in stark contrast how absurd some of the constraints we have put on ourselves in modern life truly are. We see a model of true liberty but at the same time realize the price to pay. But what if the price is actually worth it? Then what?... As for what is wrong with the film, well it’s tough to explain without giving the entire story away but I found it cliché in a lot of ways. But the ambiance created was a great success and so is the clarity of the messages it conveys. Saffron Burrows (who is pretty much a one woman band for the purpose of this film) is also excellent. But I just felt that it could have been done better somehow – though I wouldn’t be able to explain how. Don’t take my word for it, give it a spin anyway. You will like it, I know it, just a question of how much…