Annie is the “long suffering” girlfriend of Duncan. She begins a “trans-Atlantic romance” with “once revered, now faded, singer-songwriter” Tucker. Meanwhile Tucker has become the “musical obsession” of Duncan.
Yes, another “romantic comedy” about a life-changing rendezvous with second chances. In other words, the first relationship is kaput. But here is a chance to rebound into a new relationship. One that might even actually last. Meanwhile, we’re in the audience sizing these people up. What we want is to be able to identify with at least one of them so that we can at least root for one or the other relationship.
Now, it’s a comedy so we expect to find reasons to actually laugh. But are these people worth investing two hours of your life emotionally? Are the parts that are anything but laughing matters worth committing to? Well, as one IMDb reviwer put it, “[t]he jokes are subtle, clever, original” with “[c]onvincing acting, real characters, none of that fake, plastic Hollywood thing.”
That works for me.
And, let’s face it, when it comes to musicians and fans, there is no predicting what might tumble out of peoples mouths. Or what they might actually be inclined to do. Some people take their music very, very seriously. And this is based on a novel from Nick “High Fidelity” Hornby.
Then the part that revolves around the gap between what the fan[atic] thinks about a legendary rock musician and what the musician himself thinks about that. After all, imagine how embarrassing that can be.
IMDb
[b]The film involves musicians and fans. In real life, the director of the film Jesse Peretz is also a musician.
In Duncan’s final video (during the credits), there is a copy of David Foster Wallace’s Infinite Jest behind him. First, that novel inspires a number of fans who are as obsessed with Foster Wallace as Duncan is with Tucker Crowe. Second, those obsessed fans are often youngish to middle-aged men, much like Duncan.
According to an interview with Yahoo program Build, during filming, Rose Byrne cut one of her index fingers clean off with a blender. It had to be surgically reattached.[/b]
at wiki: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juliet,Naked(film
trailer: youtu.be/oMjSNkAaABs
Juliet, Naked [2018]
Directed by Jesse Peretz
[b]The backstory :
Duncan [videoblogging]: Hello, welcome to Can You Hear Me? Your source for all things Tucker Crowe. If you’re here, you’re probably already a fan of Tucker’s music, but if you’re merely Crowe-curious or you clicked on the link by accident, allow me introduce you to one of the most seminal and yet unsung figures of alternative rock. Although Tucker started writing songs in his early teens, his real breakthrough was the release of the 1993 album Juliet. It earned respectable college radio play, but was vastly underappreciated by the mainstream. On the list of Top Heartbreak Albums on RollingStone.com it comes only 43rd, which is a joke. Juliet, quite simply, is a masterpiece. Tucker wrote it after a whirlwind love affair with Julie Beatty, a model and fixture of the Los Angeles demimonde. The termination of their brief tryst simultaneously inspired him and crushed his soul. In June of that same year, 1993, Tucker played an engagement at the Pit Club in Minneapolis, United States, that would prove to be his final show. Last seen exiting the men’s toilets after his first set, Tucker abruptly canceled all future shows, and has never performed publicly again. This snapshot, taken in 2014, is purported to be of Tucker on his sheep farm in Pennsylvania, although there is quite a lot of debate as to its authenticity. The true whereabouts and creative endeavors of Mr. Crowe remain a mystery. Be sure to click on the Mystery link of the side of the page.[/b]
Or, rather, Duncan’s version of it.
[b]Annie [voiceover]: Duncan’s own obsessions dominate my life. And it’s become clear that all along, he’s been in love with another man. Not like that, but in an equally consuming and, quite frankly, really bothersome way. He is the ringleader of a community of 200 middle-aged men who gather together to obsessively deconstruct their hero’s music and attempt to crack his mysteries.
…
Carly: So, do you guys have kids?
Annie: Oh, no, they’re against Duncan’s religion.
Ros: She’s joking.
Duncan: She’s not, actually. Annie and I decided a long, long time ago, that babies weren’t our jam. The important thing is, we’re happy where we are. I mean, who wants to bring kids into this bloody world?
Annie: Fuck kids.
Duncan: You know? Right?
Annie: Fuck them.[/b]
Annie wants kids
[b]Gina: So, that Greek tragedy thing…?
Duncan: Right. Yeah…I guess my point was that these characters, they’re already bound to their fate. Like Antigone.
Gina: Wow.
Duncan: Or Medea.
Gina: So I have to read Antigone to understand The Wire?
Duncan: Not strictly speaking, but it wouldn’t hurt.
…
Gina: Okay, I’m going to sound like a wanker, but I’m going to say it anyway. I believe in the power of art. I believe that creativity can change people’s lives.
Duncan: That’s fucking refreshing. I just…I hope you haven’t come to the wrong place.
Gina: Why?
Duncan: The next Bob Dylan could be playing up there, these people wouldn’t look up from their fucking sudoku.
…
Annie [about new music from Tucker]: I should have warned you that it was so dreary. I didn’t say anything.
Duncan: Dreary?
Annie: Yeah. I mean, I suppose it’s interesting if you’ve heard the finished version, but… What did you think?
Duncan: What did I think? I think it’s a bloody masterpiece, Annie. Dreary? You can’t be serious. Oh, what else is dreary according to you? The Sopranos? Hamlet? Jeez Louise. This is history, Annie. I’m going to write it.
Annie: It is not history, it’s boring versions of songs that you’ve heard a million times before.
Duncan: Oh, my God, you think that’s what this is? This is big for me, that this has happened. And I just don’t want to spend my time in the aftermath of this new information with someone who doesn’t get it. I want to spend it with people who do.
…
Duncan: 158. Oh, somebody new. This is a long one. “Relic Master” they go by. They claim to have already heard the album. I doubt that. Let’s see what they…“Juliet, Naked is naked all right. A naked attempt to squeeze a few more quid out of a long-dead career.” Sounds like you and he would get along swimmingly.
Annie: She.
Duncan: No, I seriously doubt it’s a woman. We don’t get a lot of lady visitors.
Annie: Well, it is.
…
Tucker [voiceover from an email to Annie]: Bingo. You nailed it. I couldn’t have explained it better myself. All good things, Tucker Crowe. P.S., the folks on that website, they seem pretty weird, so I’d be grateful if you didn’t pass on the address. Thanks.
…
Tucker [voiceover from email to Annie]: Yes, it is really me. Although, I can’t think of a real way of proving it to you. How about this…I didn’t see the face of God in a Minneapolis toilet bowl. I haven’t been secretly making R&B albums with Lauryn Hill. I don’t have 200 hours’ worth of material locked in a shed, contrary to what your friends on the website may think. In fact, my guitar hasn’t been out of its case for years. I currently live in the garage behind the house where my son Jackson lives with my ex."
…
Tucker [voiceover in text to Annie]: What to do if you’ve wasted 15 years of your life? All right, first off, you have to whittle that number down. Subtract all the time spent reading good books, having enjoyable conversations and sleeping, because those are important things. And you should be able to bring that squandered time down to more like 10, and anything under a decade you’re allowed to write off for tax purposes. That’s a joke.
…
Annie [voiceover in email to Tucker]: My dad died when Ros was only 12, and we’d already lost our mom. So it was just the two of us. By the time my boyfriend and I moved in together, I’d had my share of parenting. Or so I thought. Now, with irritating predictability, I’ve started aching for a child, for all the usual reasons, like wanting to feel unconditional love, as opposed to faint, conditional affection.
…
Tucker [voiceover in email to Annie]: I’m sorry about that ache. I wish I knew the thing to say. I don’t imagine this is much of a consolation, but I’ve brought a lot of kids into the world, and most of them are just reminders of how I’ve blown it in that department. Sometimes my life looks like an endless streak of staring responsibility directly in the eye, and then running the other way.
…
Duncan: Hey, how do you even know about Grace?
Lizzie [daughter]: You let it slip to Mom back when you were in love and X-ing or something.
Duncan: Look, I realize it’s an unforgivable chapter of my life, but I’m hoping not to be judged by that alone, okay?
Lizzie: Okay.[/b]
The mysterious Grace.
[b]Annie [voiceover]: Tucker. I’ve just read through this thread and I’ve realized I’ve been sharing thoughts I’ve never said aloud to anybody. That’s not a good sign, is it? I mean, maybe it is, but I’ve told my boyfriend nothing of our little email affair. It’s like I’m dabbling in betrayal.
…
Ros: You already fancy someone, don’t you? Come on, cough it up. Who is it?
Annie: It’s nobody. It’s just…well, I did…I met someone on the Internet.
Ros: I love it. The Internet. God, you’re finally entering the modern age. Which site was it? One for clever people, no doubt. HornierStories.com?
Annie: Duncan’s website.
Ros: Another Tucker Crowe loser? Oh, Jesus, Annie, are you mental?
Annie: No, it’s weirder than that. It’s actually Tucker Crowe.
Ros: No, it’s not.
Annie: I’m not kidding.
Ros: Tucker Crowe. As in, Duncan’s idol Tucker Crowe.
Annie: Yes. What happened was he read that review I posted.
Ros: This is that syndrome.
Annie: What syndrome?
Ros: Where someone falls in love with their captor.
…
Tucker [voiceover in email to Annie]: Big news. I’m coming to London.
…
Annie [on phone]: Hello?
Duncan: Hi, it’s Tucker.
Annie: I’m dying to hear your excuse.
Duncan: Well, it’s…it’s pretty good. Um…I had a heart attack.
…
Duncan [to Lizzie and Zak]: Annie’s my friend from England. We were supposed to hook up yesterday, but then that didn’t go so well.
Annie: We don’t even know each other…
Duncan: Well, we know each other. We met on a website.
Lizzie: A website?
Annie: Not that kind of website.
…
Annie [on phone]: It was silly of me to have come. I don’t know what I was thinking.
Duncan: No, it was kind of you to come. Look… one of the big problems with screwing up the first half of your life is, you know, try as you might, you can’t press reset, you know? I mean, I…I can’t get to zero, you know? And I was just wondering if you would…if we could try this one more time again tomorrow?
Annie: Are they still there, your ex-girlfriends? They were very nice.
Duncan: No, no, everybody’s gone. Everybody except Jackson, says Jackson. Here he is. He wants to talk to you.
Jackson: Hi, Annie. I found out what a catheter is.
…
Tucker: Waterloo station, Jackson. Most famous spot in all of London.
Jackson: Really?
Tucker: For real. I mean, if you’re a Kinks fan.
…
Annie [after Tucker stumbles into Duncan’s shrine to him]: I can explain this.
Duncan: “Maxwell’s, '89, Bar Astro-Dusseldorf”. Did I play at Dusseldorf?
Annie: It’s not what it looks like. I can explain.
Duncan [pointing to a photograph]: That’s me and my high school chess club.
Annie: Really?
Duncan: Yeah.
Annie: I can explain this to you. I know this looks weird. Remember the review on the website? And the guy…it was a really over-the-top review, and you called him like a sad-sack blogger.
Tucker: Oh, Duncan-something?
Annie: Yes! God. Oh, my God, if he knew that you knew his name…
Tucker: So, that guy is the guy. Oh, that’s your 15 years of…
Annie: Yes! Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Bingo. That’s it. That’s it. And this is his room… shrine… temple where he lives and worships you.
…
Annie: This is Duncan. Duncan Thomson.
Tucker [shaking Duncan’s hand]: Tucker Crowe.
Annie: That’s what I was trying to tell you.
Duncan: And I’m Stevie fucking Wonder. Who do you want to be? Eartha fucking Kitt?
…
Duncan: If she wants to make a sad spectacle of herself around town by hanging out with some guy old enough to be her father, that’s her business. But mocking me by dragging Tucker into it is just embarrassing.
Gina: She was obviously just trying to wind you up.
Duncan: I know for a fact that there is no son. There were rumors of a daughter w ith a Swedish princess or potentially her cousin, but there’s zero online chatter of a son.
Gina: Did it look like Tucker Crowe?
Duncan: No. God no.
[he looks at a photograph of a much younger Tucker Crowe]
Duncan: Not entirely. Fuck.
…
Annie: Can I ask you, what’s the deal with Grace?
Tucker: What do you mean?
Annie: Why does her name bother you and the others don’t?
Tucker: It doesn’t bother me. I…I’ve never even met her.
Annie: How’s that possible?
…
Duncan: There is a possibility that maybe I owe you an apology.
Tucker: Well, when will you know for sure?
Duncan: It occurs to me that there’s no reason for you to claim that you are…he if you were not…he.
Tucker: Well, that’s a start.
Duncan: It’s just… I can’t be certain, you know?
Tucker: Well, I have a passport.
…
Duncan: I’m sure Annie’s told you, but I am a great admirer of your work, so…
Tucker: Cool.
Duncan: I don’t think that I would be overstating the case to suggest that I am something of a world expert.
Tucker: I’ve read your stuff. It’s…
Duncan: Okay. Wow. You can tell me where I’ve gone wrong.
Tucker: I wouldn’t know where to start.
…
Duncan [after droning on and on about what he thinks he knows about Tucker]: I know the whole thing left you shattered. And I just want you to know that from that death was born a seminal masterwork.
Tucker: Oh, God, a masterwork?
Duncan: I don’t use that word lightly, sir.
Tucker: All right, I was being really nice, okay? But it’s clear that you don’t know shit.
Duncan: Hey, am a I fan? Guilty as charged. Okay, yes. Am I a little overzealous in my quest for the truth?
Tucker: Listen, man, if you can’t realize that Juliet is a piece of shit…
Duncan: Don’t say that.
Tucker: Yeah, it is.
Duncan: You don’t mean that.
…
Duncan: Maybe my review of your demos wasn’t exactly correct, but that original album, Tucker? Do you have any idea how much that touches us? How much that has meant to me my whole life? The honesty in your words…
Tucker: Would you stop! It’s not worth the effort.
Duncan: It is to me.
…
Duncan [getting up to leave]: I’m going to go. I’m going to…This feels like a mistake.
[he walks to the door then stops and turns around]
Duncan: Just one final thing. I think that people like you, people with real talent, you don’t value it because it comes naturally to you. And we never value things that we…that come easily. But I value that album more than maybe anything I’ve ever heard. Not because it’s perfect, but because of what it means to me. Ultimately, I don’t give a shit what it means to you. Art isn’t for the artist no more than water is for the bloody plumber. But thank you. I really, really enjoyed it.
…
Tucker: Last time I played a show I didn’t even finish it. I was at this club called The Pit, and in between sets I went to the bathroom. And then my ex walks in the door. Julie. She’s holding this baby. And I… and I acted all confused, as if, after we broke up, a million people hadn’t called and told me that she was pregnant, you know? As if her brother hadn’t cursed me out the day the child was born. But she… she held out this little girl and said, you know, “Don’t you want to look at her?”
Annie: Grace?
Tucker: Yeah. Grace. And I looked at her. And then Julie said something, you know, that I didn’t hear. Like, she said… she said something to me about the baby bottle, or she forgot her bag or something. I thought that she was abandoning the child with me. You know? And I just panicked. And I wanted to follow after her, but I… I didn’t think that I could walk out of this club with this baby. There’s all these people out there. So, I…I set Grace down. And then I walked out. I went into the parking lot, and I could hear everybody calling for me, but I… I didn’t go back. And then I couldn’t play any of those songs anymore, you know? After that, I just…I couldn’t play these insipid, self-pitying songs about Julie breaking my heart. You know, they were a joke. And before I know it, a couple of decades have gone by and some doctor hands me…hands me Jackson. I hold him, you know, and I look at him. And I know that this boy…is my last chance.
…
Tucker [on phone]: Uh, is this Grace?
Grace: Speaking.
Tucker: This is Tucker Crowe.
Grace: Okay. And this is regarding…?
…
Tucker [on phone]: Listen, I’m sorry for calling you out of the blue but…
Grace: Look, as I said to Lizzie, I have a father already.
Tucker: Oh. Okay. Yeah, right. No, I understand. It’s just, when you say that, do you mean… Do you mean biologically, or…?
Grace: I’m not sure of the distinction you’re making.
Tucker: Yeah. Right. Yeah. Right. Right.
Grace: Whatever it is you’re trying to work out, good luck. But it’s just not going to involve me.
Tucker: Yes. Absolutely. I understand. Thank you.
[Grace hangs up]
…
Annie: Tucker, I was…It’s silly.
Tucker: What is it?
Annie: What? I was wondering if you would be…if you’d be interested?
Tucker: What do you mean…?
Annie: I’m sorry. In me.
Tucker: In you? In you? What…how?
An nie: Oh, I mean, I…sexually.
Tucker: What do you mean? Like, here? Like right now?
Annie: Oh, no, no. I meant…in the future, later.
Tucker: Yes, definitely. I’m extremely interested.
…
Annie [to Duncan]: We broke up for a reason…You slept with somebody else because she had the correct response to an album.
…
Annie [voiceover]: Dear Tucker…I did receive your emails. Congratulations on getting your own place. I’m so sorry that I haven’t replied sooner. I’ve just…I’ve been dealing with some really big life decisions. I moved to London, where I’m house-sitting for a friend of a friend, and I landed a job at a cool, little gallery. Somehow, the world just suddenly feels alive with possibility. I’ve also been seriously considering having a baby on my own. Last week, I finally gathered the nerve to go to a clinic and actually start the process. It’s mental, right? Anyway, nothing’s for certain, but whatever happens I feel I’ll be all right. I can’t believe Lizzie’s boy is already a year old. She must be thrilled you’re coming to visit. If you’d like to steal away for a cup of coffee, it’d be great to see you and catch up. I’d actually love that.
…
Duncan [voiceover as the end credits roll]: Apologies for my prolonged absence. I have been working through the news at hand and formulating an opinion with the care and judiciousness I believe the moment calls for. I’m speaking, of course, of the fact that Tucker has a new album. It’s called So Where Was I? It’s his first release of new material in 25 years. What is my verdict? Well, to quote another critic: “What is this shite?” We have a song about the pleasures of reading in the afternoon. We have a song about homegrown green beans. There’s a little ditty expounding the joys of being a stepfather. I mean, in short, we have a tragedy. And there’s a drum machine. There’s a drum machine on a Tucker Crowe album. I mean, what the fuck? You may ask, as I did, what caused Tucker to produce this cloying, bloodless, catastrophe? Well, reportedly, Tucker has found love. And I am here to tell you, my friends, it doesn’t suit him.[/b]