Average customer rating: Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ) Outstanding Film Songcatcher not recommended I love a good screenplay

Songcatcher Starring: Janet McTeer , Michael Davis , Michael Goodwin , Greg Russell Cook , and Jane Adams (II) Director: Maggie Greenwald Manufacturer: Lions Gate ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Period Piece | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Culture Clash | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Rural Life | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Social Injustice | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Boles, Steve | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Griffis, Rhoda | ( G ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Kelly, David Patrick | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Mahal, Taj | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video McTeer, Janet | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Quinn, Aidan | ( Q ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Watson, Muse | ( W ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Greenwald, Maggie | ( G ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video All Lions Gate Titles | Lions Gate Home Entertainment | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video DVDs Under $7.49 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video ( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video Similar Items: Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie High Lonesome - The Story of Bluegrass Music Songs From the Mountain Down from the Mountain (The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Concert) ASIN: B00005O0SO Release Date: 2001-10-23

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Description

Customer Reviews:

Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ).......2007-09-08

Outstanding Film.......2007-08-27

Songcatcher.......2007-07-25

not recommended.......2007-07-14

I love a good screenplay.......2007-07-08

Average customer rating: Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ) Outstanding Film Songcatcher not recommended I love a good screenplay

Songcatcher Starring: Janet McTeer , Michael Davis , Michael Goodwin , Greg Russell Cook , and Jane Adams (II) Director: Maggie Greenwald Manufacturer: Lions Gate ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Period Piece | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Culture Clash | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Rural Life | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Social Injustice | By Theme | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Boles, Steve | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Griffis, Rhoda | ( G ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Kelly, David Patrick | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Mahal, Taj | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video McTeer, Janet | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Quinn, Aidan | ( Q ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Watson, Muse | ( W ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Greenwald, Maggie | ( G ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video All Lions Gate Titles | Lions Gate Home Entertainment | Studio Specials | Stores | DVD | Video DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video ( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video Similar Items: Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie High Lonesome - The Story of Bluegrass Music Songs From the Mountain Down from the Mountain (The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Concert) ASIN: B000092T3Z Release Date: 2003-06-03

Product Description

Copyright Lion's Gate 2003

Format: DVD MOVIE

Amazon.com

Hauntingly beautiful folk music and stunning Appalachian scenery take center stage in this winner of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for outstanding ensemble performance. Musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric has a deep love of English folk ballads. After a humiliating failure to make full professor, she heads off to visit her sister's tiny school in rural Appalachia and finds herself in folk music central. Lily is entranced, but the locals are suspicious of the outlander's motivations. Issues of tolerance, clashing cultures, and Big Bad Men abound, but Songcatcher wisely focuses on the music. Janet McTeer does fine with the "repressed academic gets in touch with the earth" role, but her truly outstanding work is in revealing scholar Lily's rapture in her discoveries. McTeer leads a truly great cast, including the wonderful Pat Carroll, and a just-for-the-hell-of-it cameo by bluesman Taj Mahal. Songcatcher has a healthy respect for the mountain people it portrays, and an absolute reverence for their music. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ).......2007-09-08

I love folk music as well as the mountain people. When I first started watching this movie I found it very enjoyable. Then the scenes between two lesbian teachers not only once but twice totally ruined the film. It was quite disgusting. The film is rated PG13 but I find that too mild. I would not want my teenagers watching this let alone any smaller children.

I would suggest buying the soundtrack but leave the film in the trash where it belongs.

Outstanding Film.......2007-08-27

This film explores the frustration of women in academics as well as the beauty of folk mountain culture. Both the acting and the music are outstanding.

Songcatcher.......2007-07-25

A small film filled with unexpected delights, Maggie Greenwald's "Songcatcher" deals with culture clash (North/South, urban/rural) and the fading of traditional folkways, but concentrates mostly on the ruggedly beautiful backwoods music. McTeer is wonderful as the steely, driven Easterner who falls for a prideful local musician (Aidan Quinn), and the rest of the cast--including newcomer/vocalist Emmy Rossum--is terrific. Stunning scenery and hauntingly pure ol'-timey music round out this warm, tuneful tale.

not recommended.......2007-07-14

There are a number of problems with this piece. First, it is not a movie. It is a recital strung together with the flimsiest of narratives. Naturally, this will please people who want a recital of this particular music.

Second, the narrative material is almost solely concerned with feminism: lesbianism, the single independent woman, childbirth, mistreated wives, drunken husbands, too many children, etc.

The view of the mountain people is totally from the POV of an outsider, not merely the main character (who IS an outsider) but the filmmaker. It's not that the view of mountain people is wholly negative. It isn't. But there is no understanding of these people. The main character does not come to an understanding of them, nor do we, the audience.

That she would give up her work and her career at the end strains credibility, especially when an eminent scholar comes to assist her and she is thus guaranteed success as well as advancement in her career.

Finally, what has she got at the end? What and who is the Aidan Quinn character? And what does she see in him? We haven't a clue (except that he IS Aidan Quinn and is cute).

But then, we should have guessed that this would be a dud from the fact that it won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Once again, the name Sundance should be a red flag of warning to all who like a good movie and are unimpressed by the self-appointed arbiters of taste who run Sundance.

Bottom line: this piece is recommended only for those who want a recital of some mountain ballads. For others, it is a washout.

I love a good screenplay.......2007-07-08

which is why I didn't like this movie very much. The music was fantastic, the acting was excellent, the photography was beautiful, the editing of the shots and the production were great, but the screenplay was just not believable.

Some things that ruined it for me:

The surest sign of a bush-league academic is to insist on being called "doctor". Poor Lily did this over and over in the script. What was the problem? Did the screenwriter not do his/her homework, or were we supposed to think that perhaps Lily didn't deserve the promotion? The former seems more likely to me.

Lily was having an affair with one of her colleagues? Well, certainly this happens, but it is not consistent with her character's other traits, unless as I wondered above, the screenwriter is trying to tell us that she isn't as independent and capable as she thinks she is. I think it was just a bad idea that didn't get cut.

Is it really believable that Lily's sister would not have told a dear sister who studies ballads that her mountain girl assistant sings them. I doubt it.

Would Lily really run through the woods tearing off her clothes in response to a superstition, or was this an excuse to have her uncorseted in preparation for the big sex scene? I think the latter.

This movie deserved a more believable screenplay.

Average customer rating:

Songcatcher (Signature Series) Director: Maggie Greenwald ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video DVDs Under $9.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video Similar Items: Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie Songcatcher ASIN: B000NCZT3I

Average customer rating: Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ) Outstanding Film Songcatcher not recommended I love a good screenplay

Songcatcher Starring: Janet McTeer , Michael Davis , Michael Goodwin , Greg Russell Cook , and Jane Adams (II) Director: Maggie Greenwald ProductGroup: DVD Binding: DVD General | Drama | Genres | DVD | Video Boles, Steve | ( B ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Griffis, Rhoda | ( G ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Kelly, David Patrick | ( K ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Mahal, Taj | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video McTeer, Janet | ( M ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Quinn, Aidan | ( Q ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Watson, Muse | ( W ) | Actors & Actresses | Stores | DVD | Video Greenwald, Maggie | ( G ) | Directors | Stores | DVD | Video DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video ( S ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video Similar Items: Songcatcher: Music from and Inspired by the Motion Picture Songcatcher II: The Tradition That Inspired the Movie High Lonesome - The Story of Bluegrass Music Songs From the Mountain Down from the Mountain (The "O Brother, Where Art Thou?" Concert) ASIN: B000065I94

Amazon.com

Hauntingly beautiful folk music and stunning Appalachian scenery take center stage in this winner of the 2000 Sundance Film Festival Special Jury Prize for outstanding ensemble performance. Musicologist Dr. Lily Penleric has a deep love of English folk ballads. After a humiliating failure to make full professor, she heads off to visit her sister's tiny school in rural Appalachia and finds herself in folk music central. Lily is entranced, but the locals are suspicious of the outlander's motivations. Issues of tolerance, clashing cultures, and Big Bad Men abound, but Songcatcher wisely focuses on the music. Janet McTeer does fine with the "repressed academic gets in touch with the earth" role, but her truly outstanding work is in revealing scholar Lily's rapture in her discoveries. McTeer leads a truly great cast, including the wonderful Pat Carroll, and a just-for-the-hell-of-it cameo by bluesman Taj Mahal. Songcatcher has a healthy respect for the mountain people it portrays, and an absolute reverence for their music. --Ali Davis

Customer Reviews:

Really Disappointed (leave the film in the trash ).......2007-09-08

I love folk music as well as the mountain people. When I first started watching this movie I found it very enjoyable. Then the scenes between two lesbian teachers not only once but twice totally ruined the film. It was quite disgusting. The film is rated PG13 but I find that too mild. I would not want my teenagers watching this let alone any smaller children.

I would suggest buying the soundtrack but leave the film in the trash where it belongs.

Outstanding Film.......2007-08-27

This film explores the frustration of women in academics as well as the beauty of folk mountain culture. Both the acting and the music are outstanding.

Songcatcher.......2007-07-25

A small film filled with unexpected delights, Maggie Greenwald's "Songcatcher" deals with culture clash (North/South, urban/rural) and the fading of traditional folkways, but concentrates mostly on the ruggedly beautiful backwoods music. McTeer is wonderful as the steely, driven Easterner who falls for a prideful local musician (Aidan Quinn), and the rest of the cast--including newcomer/vocalist Emmy Rossum--is terrific. Stunning scenery and hauntingly pure ol'-timey music round out this warm, tuneful tale.

not recommended.......2007-07-14

There are a number of problems with this piece. First, it is not a movie. It is a recital strung together with the flimsiest of narratives. Naturally, this will please people who want a recital of this particular music.

Second, the narrative material is almost solely concerned with feminism: lesbianism, the single independent woman, childbirth, mistreated wives, drunken husbands, too many children, etc.

The view of the mountain people is totally from the POV of an outsider, not merely the main character (who IS an outsider) but the filmmaker. It's not that the view of mountain people is wholly negative. It isn't. But there is no understanding of these people. The main character does not come to an understanding of them, nor do we, the audience.

That she would give up her work and her career at the end strains credibility, especially when an eminent scholar comes to assist her and she is thus guaranteed success as well as advancement in her career.

Finally, what has she got at the end? What and who is the Aidan Quinn character? And what does she see in him? We haven't a clue (except that he IS Aidan Quinn and is cute).

But then, we should have guessed that this would be a dud from the fact that it won a prize at the Sundance Film Festival. Once again, the name Sundance should be a red flag of warning to all who like a good movie and are unimpressed by the self-appointed arbiters of taste who run Sundance.

Bottom line: this piece is recommended only for those who want a recital of some mountain ballads. For others, it is a washout.

I love a good screenplay.......2007-07-08

which is why I didn't like this movie very much. The music was fantastic, the acting was excellent, the photography was beautiful, the editing of the shots and the production were great, but the screenplay was just not believable.

Some things that ruined it for me:

The surest sign of a bush-league academic is to insist on being called "doctor". Poor Lily did this over and over in the script. What was the problem? Did the screenwriter not do his/her homework, or were we supposed to think that perhaps Lily didn't deserve the promotion? The former seems more likely to me.

Lily was having an affair with one of her colleagues? Well, certainly this happens, but it is not consistent with her character's other traits, unless as I wondered above, the screenwriter is trying to tell us that she isn't as independent and capable as she thinks she is. I think it was just a bad idea that didn't get cut.

Is it really believable that Lily's sister would not have told a dear sister who studies ballads that her mountain girl assistant sings them. I doubt it.

Would Lily really run through the woods tearing off her clothes in response to a superstition, or was this an excuse to have her uncorseted in preparation for the big sex scene? I think the latter.

This movie deserved a more believable screenplay.

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