A Love Song For Bobby Long is one of the more effective indie character studies I've stumbled across since The Station Agent. It's certainly restored by ever-shaky faith in John Travolta. While it's true that Ladder 49 was okay and he salvaged Be Cool, I've pretty much become accustomed to skipping Travolta films, but the premise of Bobby Long was intriguing and my instincts proved correct this time around.
The film begins with the death of Lorraine Will a troubled singer-songwriter who'd amassed something of a cult following in and around New Orleans before her death. Lorraine never makes an appearance in the film, but her presence is a prevailing thread throughout. Before long we find out that Lorraine has an estranged daughter in the person of Pursy (Scarlett Johansson) who is at the time living a trailer-trash lifestyle with a slimy boyfriend whose idea of a romantic evening is some wine and a new porno. When Pursy finds out that she's missed her mother's funeral due to her boyfriend's flakiness, she packs it in and heads for New Orleans.
Much of her life, Pursy has clung to the promise (or illusion) that her mother was fixing up a great home and once it was ready she would send for her and they would make a life together. Upon locating the home in question, Pursy finds a run-down flop house of a dwelling, currently inhabited my two of her mother's long-time friends, Bobby Long (a washed-up, former literature professor, Travolta) and Lawson, (Gabriel Macht) a protege of Long's who has been writing Long's memoir for years. Both of whom are more or less down-and-out alcoholics who spend their wasted days communicating with each other by means of famous literary quotes. Clinging to their decaying romanticism and the fading notion that once Lawson's book is published they'll both be living a life of long overdue largesse..
Though Lorraine has willed full possession of the house to Pursy, Bobby and Lawson hide this little detail from her, under the ruse that the house is to be divided among the three of them. While Lawson is against the idea, he plays along for Bobby's sake, and the defining dynamic of the films first act, is the adversarial relationship between Pursy and Bobby. They communicate primarily by taking pot-shots at each other's shortcomings, though even early on, we can detect a fondness that underscores the barbs badinage. For Pursy's part, she takes up residence in the house, putting the feminine touch on the place, while looking for gainful employment. During this we come to meet the various characters that have become part of Lorraine's sphere of influence. Though the salad days of the scene that Lorraine once reigned queen over have long since gone to seed, her friends are still fiercely loyal and eager to pass along their care and affection to Pursy.
Along the way we are offered enough details to parse together the story of these down-trodden but sensitive people. Of course it is Bobby Long whose story is key to the film, and by the end of the second act we have a pretty good picture as to how and why Bobby has arrived at his shabby station in life, and why he is still revered as the unspoken king and poet laureate of these skid-romantics. Travolta's turn as Long is just quirky fun, but still grounded enough to pass as a would-be father figure. It's obvious that he's having a great time fleshing out this character, and his unpredictable nature makes Bobby Long someone you won't soon forget and maybe Travolta's strongest turn since Pulp Fiction (unless I'm overlooking something obvious).
Though I wouldn't put this performance on a par with Lost In Translation, I would definitely say this is Scarlett Johansson's second best film role. Both her and Travolta manage to imbue the proceedings with a good measure of poignancy, without stooping to cheap sentimentality - at least not often. I won't give away some of the more impacting revelations in the film, the major one certainly doesn't come as any too big a surprise. The supporting players - particularly Gabriel Macht and Deborah Kara Unger, are solid, and everyone involved make you forget you're watching a movie, instead of a documentary about real characters in America's southland.
A surprise visit by her loser boyfriend, is how she eventually finds out that she's been lied to about the disposition of the house, and as a result she responds by angrily leaving her friends and puts the house up for sale. Of course all of her friends band together and paint the house, in an attempt to apologize for their sin of omission. Events conspire to make these trifling matters seem inconsequential and the movie does tie things together in a touching and satisfying way.
A Love Song For Bobby Long is lovely, compelling and never dull and though far from being flawless, is one of those small sleepers that restore your faith in modern movie-making.
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