Movie Review - Unfinished Song

Unfinished Song (Song for Marion) (2013)

Starring Terence Stamp, Gemma Arterton, Christopher Eccleston, and Vanessa Redgrave

Directed by Paul Andrew Williams

***This film is currently streaming on Netflix***

There's an overwhelming sense of sentimentality in Unfinished Song that you either buy into or don't. Fortunately, I did and I found this little seen British dramedy quite a charming surprise.  The story is quite simple -- Marion (Vanessa Redgrave) is dying.  Cancer has taken its toll and she doesn't have very long to live.  She wants to make the most of her final months so she joins a choir of elderly folks headed by the young and chipper Elizabeth (Gemma Arterton). Elizabeth doesn't want her choir to be looked at as a bunch of old fogies so she has them sing modern songs ("Let's Talk About Sex" by Salt 'n' Pepa, "Love Shack" by the B52's) in unique ways.  Marion loves the concept and it makes her incredibly happy, allowing her to forget about her illness.  Her curmudgeonly husband Arthur (Terence Stamp), however, finds the whole thing ridiculous.

It's not difficult to see where writer-director Paul Andrew Williams' film is going to go.  Of course Arthur's going to have a change of heart, but there's something about the innocence coupled with the natural and "real" performances from Terence Stamp, Vanessa Redgrave, Gemma Arterton, and Christopher Eccleston (as Marion and Arthur's adult son) that make Unfinished Song much more compelling than it probably has any right to be.  Stamp, in particular, manages to make a stock character -- Grumpy Old Man -- into someone that you not only root for, but desperately want to realize the error of his crotchety ways.  His final scene -- good luck trying to keep your eyes dry.  I managed to avoid the tears, but I can totally see how it could cause the waterworks to open up.  [I must say that I rewatched the scene on YouTube and sure enough, it caused a tear to fall.]

Don't misunderstand -- Unfinished Song isn't necessarily a great film.  We've seen everything it presents here before (including the tired trope of old people saying things "young people say" for laughs), but if you're willing to buy into the concept, I can't help but think you'll be won over by the sheer niceness of it all.

The RyMickey Rating:  B