“Unfinished Song” is a film that I’ve personally been looking forward too, since first hearing about it. What interested me about the film was the cast. Terence Stamp has been one of those actors that I always enjoy seeing. Whether in small roles like “Star Wars: Episode One” or major roles like “Get Smart” or my personal favorite “The Limey”, he feels like a welcome presence to any film. That’s what drew me into this film. It also helped that this has a very good supporting cast including Gemma Arterton (Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters), Christopher Eccleston (Doctor Who) and Vanessa Redgrave (Howards End).
The film is about grumpy old man (Terrance Stamp), who lives life through a routine. One day his wife (Vanessa Redgrave) wants him to get out more and experience life. She take him to her a singing group that is led by a charismatic young woman (Gemma Arterton). He begins to form an unlikely friendship with this woman, which leads him to his discovery of music, which gives him reason to live and try and reconnect with the ones that matter to him most.
Going into this film, I was expecting to like this film given the cast. Was I ever disappointing at the end result. It wasn’t the cast fault, as they made it watchable. It was mostly the screenplay and the direction to some extent.
Paul Andrew Williams’ direction for the most part was alright. He does a great job with the way that he directs the main performances. Williams does a very good job making sure that the cast made their characters interesting. He does that very well, by making the main cast had good chemistry. It made some of the scenes work. The thing that I didn’t like about his direction was the fact the felt lagging at times. I don’t if it was this screenplay but there were a couple of scenes with the singing that made me lose interest. It felt like the scene were going a little long especially in the beginning. Thankfully, the performances were good enough to save this film from becoming a boring film.
Williams’ screenplay was subpar at best. He does a good job with the way that he handles the character development. It helped saved the story, once it got away from focusing solely on the comedic and singing aspects of the film and became focused on the main characters. I was interested with the characters, as this was an interesting story. You see how the main character changes during the course of the film. It made the main character interesting. Too bad, that it has elements that hurt the flow of the film.
There were two problem that I had with this screenplay, the film didn’t need the narration from Arterton’s character in the beginning and end of the film. It felt like the film was more about her than Stamp’s character, which is what the film is supposed to be about. It felt a little puzzling to me because this is his story not hers. The other problem that I had was that I didn’t like the fact that some of the comedic and singing scenes in the beginning felt too long. It slowed the story and the comedic scene didn’t feel funny. Thankfully the film tries to move away that and make about the characters, as it recovers in the second half to end strongly.
DVD Extras:
Sadly, there isn’t many extras on this DVD. The DVD only has deleted scenes and outtakes. It would’ve been nice to see a commentary track or a behind the scenes featurette here, as I would’ve liked some insight to how this film was made.
Final Summary:
Sadly, this film had a lot of potential coming in. This had a good cast that kept me entertained. But with direction that lagged at times and scenes went too long. Thankfully, the film’s recovers, but “Unfinished Song” at the end of the day felt like an unfinished film.
Review Rating: Two and a Half Stars
DVD Extras: One Star
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