Music from Another Room (1998)

Director:

Charlie Peters

Writer (WGA):

Charlie Peters (written by)

Release Date:

12 November 1998 (Australia)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Plot:

Music From Another Room is a romantic comedy that follows the exploits of Danny, a young man who grew...

Plot Keywords:

Fate | Passion | Fight | Dry Cleaning | TV Rabbit Ears

Cast

Jude Law	...	Danny
Jennifer Tilly	...	Nina Swan
Gretchen Mol	...	Anna Swan
Martha Plimpton	...	Karen Swan
Brenda Blethyn	...	Grace Swan
Jon Tenney	...	Eric
Jeremy Piven	...	Billy Swan
Vincent Laresca	...	Jesus
Jane Adams	...	Irene
Bruce Jarchow	...	Richard
Kevin Kilner	...	Hank
Jan Rubes	...	Louis Klammer
Judith Malina	...	Clara Klammer
Hillary Matthews	...	Sarah
Caitlin Sarah Needham	...	Lily

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexuality and language.

Runtime:

104 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

DTS

Certification:

Iceland:L | USA:PG-13 (certificate #35524) | France:U | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Capella International

Trivia:

All of the Swan sisters' names derive from "Anna Karenina" - Anna, Karen and Nina.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When Anna is born, she is quickly wrapped in a blanket and handed to her mother. As her mother holds her you can see the disposable diaper where the blanket slipped down.

Quotes:

Anna Swan: Hi, nice to meet you.
Danny: Last time we met, you were covered in afterbirth.
Eric: Well, now, there's a line I bet you never heard before.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Forever Mine (1999)

Soundtrack:

Truly, Madly, Deeply

Flawed and incoherent

"Music From Another Room" is an interesting title. It doesn't make any sense until you see the film in which the phrase is part of a slightly silly metaphor about the nature of love. However, the title actually made me watch the film, along with the promise of well-known actors Jude Law, Jennifer Tilly and Brenda Blethyn.

The film is funny at times and lovable in the way we expect from romantic comedies - the opening scenes of young Danny's participation in a baby's birth is a good example, full of sweetness and humanity from Brenda Blethyn and young actor Cory Buck.

But this is basically not a very good film. The major problem is in the directing and the editing which are without elegance and with plenty of flaws. Too many parts of the film are unfunny. A large part of the latter half of the film is strained and repetitive. The intended mixture of sadness and joy is handled too unoriginally to be anything but indecision.

On top, the storyline is incoherent: Danny's immediate crush on a girl he hasn't seen since her birth is not backed by anything other than Gretchen Mol's nice, but perhaps rather bland appearance. For the most part, the character is described as a closed and slightly dull personality, and Mol plays it with a stiffness to match.

Jude Law is a splendid talent but his part much too romanticized and fundamentally uninteresting. Jennifer Tilly plays a blind girl who is provoked into experiencing life more than she has; she is good, but not excellent. In the end my favorite actors here are Brenda Blethyn and Jane Adams, both in fairly small parts.