Oscar's who?
This month's edition is pure film, no award shows!
Hi all! Very excited to bring you this month’s edition. I have the honor of presenting Summer McGibbon’s first review with Petit Cahier! I hope you enjoy her piece as much as I did, as I’m hoping to welcome her back in coming months. Following it, you’ll find my review, as per usual. This one’s a special one and I may not say much, but I hope that makes it that much more interesting!
P.S. Just remembered that the Oscars happened this month. Boy how I’ve changed!
“It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley’
By Summer McGibbon
After watching ‘It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley’, the audience poured out of the movie theatre with feelings of woe in the atmosphere. This documentary tells us what could have been and what has been lost.
Directed by Amy J. Berg, the documentary gives us a personal insight into the people who loved Jeff most. With interview clips of his mother Mary Guibert, ex partners and band mates, we are shown different relationships but ultimately the same shared heartbreak throughout. It integrates old voicemails and videos of Jeff before his passing, including the last voicemail he ever sent his mother. We are also given a new insight into Jeff’s absent relationship with his father Tim Buckley. I found the documentary to be a jam packed film for fans of Jeff or newer fans who are unaware of his tragic life and untimely death while touching on his relationships, mental health and his love for the arts.
Rebecca Moore, musician and animal rights activist introduces us to the love story between her and Jeff. Sharing the same love of the arts and music, their story really really struck a chord with me. She shared heartfelt anecdotes about her and Jeff, it was obvious to see there is still a lot of love there. They separated a couple of years into their relationship due to moving for the sake of art.
Growing up with idols like Nina Simone and Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the success of Buckley’s career ended up with him meeting and singing with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan. Also having the cultural impact on Radiohead’s The Bends after Thom Yorke and the band seeing Buckley live and leaving to go straight to the recording studio to write Fake Plastic Trees.
After trying to make amends with people in his life, Buckley called everyone he knew to ‘clear the air’ so to speak. He left his mother a voicemail which would have been his last before drowning in the Wolf River Harbor in Memphis. At this point in his life, Buckley was facing depression and artist burnout very similar to Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. Still to this day it is unclear if his death was an accident or suicide.
The documentary showed another side to Jeff’s life that we as an audience and consumers were unaware of before. His still grieving mother gave an incredibly candid and new perspective to their relationship throughout the entire documentary. Tim Buckley (Jeff’s father) was known for being an artist and activist. Mary and Tim seemed to have a beautiful relationship until Tim cheated while Mary was pregnant with Jeff, leaving her a single mother.
Jeff and Mary’s relationship explained where Jeff’s feminism came from and his treatment towards women. At the same time, in the peak of his artist burnout and fame, he sought sex almost to cover a wound that needed bleeding.
Tim Buckley passed away in 1975. Prior to his memorial, Jeff was asked to perform alongside other musicians like Richard Hell and Julia Heyward. Jeff was hesitant due to the distant relationship they had, however he did perform and was handed roughly 50 business cards after his set.
The choice of visual graphics in the documentary over B roll footage stood out to me: a graphic of the first time Jeff listened to Nina Simone with a clip of a song from Grace over the top; A doodle visual of him climbing the frames at the side of a stage at a Led Zeppelin concert and falling off. I found this created a further immersive experience for the viewer; it sent chills down my spine.
I’ve sat for about a week now after watching this documentary and it’s still playing on my mind. I have been listening to Grace (full blast on the speaker) while making my dinner and the songs have now shifted to knowing their true intentions and what they mean, rather than my own interpretations. It’s an incredible insight into Jeff Buckley’s life that this documentary brought to the audience. I find while a handful of other music documentaries focus mainly on the production of an album, It’s Never Over brought everything to the table.
I have always found a way to relate to Jeff Buckley one way or another. Yet being granted to watch It’s Never Over at my favourite local movie house opened up a whole other side to his life that I was unaware of before. It was incredibly special.
Underdog Edition: It takes two to tango
This month, I had the pleasure of seeing a film that I believe truly takes the cake. Il Maestro, by Andrea Di Stefano, was probably my favorite film that I’ve seen so far this year. That’s not necessarily a huge deal, considering I’ve only seen 3 films so far. However, considering I liked the two other films I’ve seen as well, that makes this a pretty big deal.
This film spans just about every emotion you have ever felt. It will make you sad, it will make you laugh, it will make you proud and disappointed. It is both magical and damningly realistic. I am most certainly hyping up this film. But if there is any film of the 3 I have seen so far this year that I want you to see, it is most certainly Il Maestro. (I believe in America it goes by the name “My Tennis Maestro” which I think is less appealing).
This film follows a young teenage boy from Italy, Felice, who wants to become one of the great Italian tennis players one day. He is initially trained by his dad who is an atypical helicopter parent. His father seems to think that the sport of tennis can be mastered solely by reading books and following rules. He creates a manual based off of different books he’s read, outlining how his son needs to learn to play tennis. After reaching a certain skill level, his dad decides that Felice needs to be coached by someone who can actually play tennis. He hires Raul Gatti, a former professional, who unbeknownst to him, has been struggling severely with his mental health over the last few years. On top of that, he’s been freeloading off of a rich elderly woman, neither playing tennis nor working.
Having met Raul only once, Felice and he go on a tour of Italy. Felice competes in a tennis competition for young people in different cities around the country. At the beginning, we learn that Felice and Raul are polar opposites. But by the end, we learn that sometimes opposites need each other for balance. One of the best parts of the film is the relationship between Raul and Felice. Felice is very stiff and focused, meanwhile Raul is like a party boy who is simply trying to find the next adrenaline rush. However, they are able to learn a lot from each other given their age difference.
The film touches on some really heavy topics, and given that I probably wouldn’t categorize it as simply a comedy. However, I don’t want you to think that it’s depressing. Instead, it seems to navigate heavy topics, such as controlling parents, suicide and much more in a way that is easy to watch. The concluding note is that it’s not necessarily about being the best at anything, but simply being the best version of yourself.
I sincerely have so much more I could say about this, but I decided to keep this month’s review relatively short. This film is an odyssey, and something I see myself watching over and over again. I hope that you get an opportunity to see Il Maestro; it won’t disappoint you.