At work the other day between calls a couple of us in our row at the call center had a conversation about karoke. I recomended an indie film I had seen involving the same subject. Of course I couldn't think of the name of the film at the time and trying to describe it just brought blank stares. Needless to say I finally had time to look it up on the net. Jackpot (2001) written by Michael and Mark polish, directed by Michael, and starring Jon Gries as Sonny Holiday, Garrett Morris is exceptional as his manager, Daryl Hannah (friend of the polish bros) Peggy Lipton, Adam Baldwin etc.
Here's a summary: In a beat up pink chrysler, Sonny & Lester (Morris) travel the karoke circut across the desolate western landscape making their stops in sweltering, barely habitable towns to perform in contests held by a variety of swanky lounges and honky-tonks. This is sonny's"big tour" where fame and fortune are just a "pop-song" away. The tone of the film hums with a sense of estrangement, solomnity and many disappointments, but juxtaposed with sonny's character, who takes himself very seriously while donned in his fringed jacket and cowboy boots(picture Dwight Yokum before he could afford the nudie jacket) crooning to Billy Idol's Eyes Without a Face, you just have to break out laughing and laughing--til you start feeling embarassed for Sonny, but not for long because sonny is a prick-- in a way, the karoke theme lends a portion of humility to the otherwise cranky and ego-centric Sonny.
Like the other films by the polish brothers (Twin Falls Idaho, Northfork) , this one is really about relationships. Relationships between sonny and lester and the people sonny has estranged. The dialogue is rich as in the other films and Lester has some very sage comments throughout. The drama culminates as Sonny reunites with his brother, but I can't remember if he completely gives up his notion of fame as a karoke cowboy. I do know that they end up with a heck of a lot of miracle cleaner they haven't been able to unload.
No comments:
Post a Comment