If you read my blog on a regular basis you’ll know that I enjoy entertainment, most especially movies. I have a rather impressive movie collection. Most of our movies are on DVD but we are rapidly catching up with our Blu-ray collection. We still have several VHS tapes (mostly all Disney movies), but we can’t watch them because we don’t have a VHS player.
One of the many reason why I love being a blogger, especially one that reviews movies, is that I am about to see movies that might otherwise slip under my radar. Such is the case with the film This Must Be The Place. It at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 and in some theaters (Italy and Ireland) last year. I just heard about it recently.
This Must Be The Place stars Sean Penn, Frances McDormand, Judd Hirsch, Harry Dean Stanton and David Byrne (the lead singer of the band Talking Heads, as himself).
In This Must Be The Place, Sean Penn stars as Cheyenne, an aging, retired former Rock Star. He has big hair and wears a lot of make up. I was shocked to learn this was Sean Penn. I still picture Sean Penn as Jeff Spicolli (Fast Times and Ridgemont High) and Sam Dawson (I am Sam).
Cheyenne is very child like and seems to walk around in a daze most of the time. No offence to Ozzy Osborne (I’m a fan of his music), but he kind of reminds me of the Ozzy that we see today.
Cheyenne has long since retired from the music scene, but he still have plenty of adoring fans. He is bored with is life and comes across as being a bit depressed.
One day Cheyenne learns that his father is on his death bed and he wants to see him before he passes away. Cheyenne is terrified to fly so he takes a ship from Ireland to the United States. By the time he gets to his father he has already passed away.
After his father’s death, Cheyenne learns about his father and how he was persecuted in Auschwitz, most especially at the hands of an officer by the name of Alois Lange.
For reasons I am not 100% sure about, Cheyenne decides to track down Lange and kill him as revenge for what he did to his father. Cheyenne begins his journey across the United States to find him. Along the way he meets variety of people including Lane’s wife, Lange’s granddaughter, a businessman and a professional Nazi-hunter (Hirsch). He also purchases a gun that he plans to use on Lange.
Cheyenne does eventually find Lange. Does he finally avenge his father’s abuse from Lange? Does he kill him? Or does something else happen? To find out you will need to pick up a copy of This Must Be The Place which is now available on Blu-ray and DVD where movies are sold, such as Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
I’m still in awe of Sean Penn for pulling off this roll. It really didn’t seem like Sean Penn at all. That is some great acting if you ask me.
The story was slow at times, and there were plenty of times I couldn’t make out what Sean was saying (as the character of Cheyenne) because he mumbled a lot. But over all I enjoyed it. It was different. It’s not something I would normally go to a theater to watch. But that is the great thing about reviewing movies – it introduces you to genres and titles you might not pay much attention to otherwise.
What surprised me the most was the cinematography. There were plenty of breath-taking scenes (especially when Cheyenne is traveling across the United States). There were plenty of other shots that came off as being very artistic, which I found very surprising for this film.
The film also has an interesting soundtrack. It’s “indy” type music, most of which I believe is from David Bryne (Talking Heads).
Here is the film’s trailer. If you are reading this via e-mail you can find the trailer here, http://bit.ly/13Rk62S.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own and were not influenced in any way.
stephanie says
i wanna see this!
Megan says
That sounds like a really interesting story that could go really really wrong onscreen…I don’t really get a sense from your review of whether that was the case – but it’s not high on my list!
saminder gumer says
i love sean penn and his acting. i don’t particularly like the plot of this movie, but will check it out because he does an amazing job in almost any movie he is in.
Tammy S says
I can’t even imagine Sean Penn in this type of role. It sounds kind of interesting. Before your review I had never even heard of this movie. I love David Bryne’s music. So I will have to look for this movie. Thanks for the review.
Jenn says
I’m huge Sean Penn fan. Can’t wait to see this one. I love movies that look different.
LAMusing says
Wow – I’m really intrigued. I wonder why I hadn’t heard of this!
Yona says
WOW – Sean Penn really transformed well to play the part. I like McDormand as an actress/