THE LAST SONG
US, 2010, 107 minutes, Colour.
Miley Cyrus, Greg Kinnear, Bobby Coleman, Liam Hemsworth, Alec Beals, Kelly Preston, Nick Lashaway, Carly Chaikin, Kate Vernon, Melissa Ordway, Nick Searcy.
Directed by Julie Anne Robinson.
Check the credentials before making a decision whether to see The Last Song or not.
The first thing to note is that it is a dramatic star vehicle for Miley Cyrus, better known for her Disney television series, movie and concert tours as Hannah Montana. She is more of a presence on screen rather than an actress, though she is still young, 17, and time is on her side.
The second thing to note is that the film is based on a novel by Nicholas Sparks. That is enough to turn the anti-weepie crowds away (and there are plenty of tears here). While Sparks has worked on this screenplay himself, he has such a following (and with film versions of Message in a Bottle, A Walk to Remember, The Notebook, Nights in Rodanthe and Dear John) that devotees of his stories can get quite upset when the film does not meet their experience of the novels – and comments from dissatisfied fans seem to indicate that this is the case here.
The niche market seems to be teenage girls who can identify with Miley Cyrus and the situations in the story and respond very well to heartthrob, Liam Hemsworth (all the way from Australia to Georgia) with, maybe, an appeal to their mothers who take them to see The Last Song.
So, all in all, it is a romantic tearjerker, American style.
Miley Cyrus' character, Ronnie, is initially a surly pain in the neck, especially to her father because of her resentment at his having left his wife (Kelly Preston), her brother (a lively Bobby Coleman) and herself. But, you know it is going to end well, even if tearfully – the point is seeing how the film gets there and how it takes you along.
It is summer on the Georgia coast. Turtle eggs play a significant role (and there are some nice National Geographic sequences in there). So does making a stained glass window for a burnt church. There is scenery, fashion, teen angst, bonding, friendship, falling in love, illness, death, fights, snobbery, sense of betrayal, reconciliation and Greg Kinnear's performance as Ronnie's father to take it up a notch or two.
1. The work of Nicholas Sparks? The novels, the film adaptations? Americana, tears, love, illness, death…?
2. Miley Cyrus as a star, Hannah Montana, television and film, concerts, this film as a star vehicle for her dramatic career?
3. The Georgia island, the beaches, the houses, the church, the mansion?
4. The range of songs, for a young audience? The final song and sung by Miley Cyrus?
5. The introduction with the church, the burning, the rescue? The tone? The later information about the church, Steve Miller and his being present, blamed? The importance of the stained glass window? Steve making it, Jonah helping him as an assistant, Ronnie and Will helping when Steve was ill? The truth, the group of boys, the truth being the cause of the break between Ronnie and Will, the funeral and the focus on the window?
6. The family, the past, Steve walking out, the reasons, Kim and her having the children? Bringing them to Steve? The plans for her to remarry? The last summer for Steve and his children? The change, sadness? The mother taking Jonah away, Ronnie staying with her father, death and the funeral?
7. The focus on Ronnie, Miley Cyrus, her acting style? Her resentment of her father, failing her studies, her piano skills and not following them through, accepted at Julliard? Not reading her father’s letters? Arrival, walking past her father, her clothes, going to the beach, the girls laughing at her, Will and his spilling the soda, her antagonism towards him, getting back late, the room and sharing it with Jonah, not wanting breakfast, vegetarian, her meeting with Blaze, Marcus and his juggling, Blaze and her jealousy, setting Ronnie up in the shop for shoplifting, going to the police, her father rescuing? Paying? The doomed holiday?
8. Jonah, younger, his age, precocious? Love for his father, wanting to be with him, getting money from Ronnie to cover for her – and later being able to give her the money for the dress for the wedding? Apprenticed to his father, working with him, the importance of being with his father?
9. Ronnie and Blaze, the shoplifting, Marcus, the violence towards Blaze, Ronnie taking a stance, Blaze and her antagonism, later, Ronnie giving her the money, Blaze and the new opportunity, working at the wedding, Marcus turning up, causing a scene? Will fighting him?
10. The raccoon and the tortoise eggs, Ronnie saving them, building the ramshackle shelter, spending the night? The raccoon appearing? Will and his help, staying, Steve drawing the line in the sand?
11. Will, his first encounter with Ronnie, at the diner, talking with her, the volleyball, helping with the tortoises?
12. The change in Ronnie, talking with Will, going out, change of character, watching the volleyball, Will and his team winning, Ashley and her nasty stories about Will, Will and his explanations? Taking Ronnie to visit his parents, the piano and her playing, the mother and her snobbery, the father and his gaffes, the meal, the reality of their son and the accident, Will surviving, the mother blaming herself?
13. The scene of the freeing of the baby turtles, exhilaration, Steve’s collapse?
14. Steve’s illness, in the hospital, the truth about his cancer, the reactions, Jonah and his grief, Ronnie and the reconciliation with her father, the group working on the window?
15. The last weeks, Jonah going with his mother, Will and Scott and the truth about the fire, Will exerting pressure, Scott telling Steve, Steve forgiving him, Ronnie overhearing and upset, telling Will to go? Steve, his message to his daughter, for reconciliation? His death?
16. The funeral, Ronnie playing the piano, Will talking, the range of guests including Will’s parents? Back on the beach, forgiveness and reconciliation?
17. An American weepy for teenage audiences? An emphasis on feelings – and yet the possibilities of resentment, change, reconciliation and love?
