By: Skip Sheffield
If you were in a band back in the 1960s, you will really relate to “Not Fade Away.”
I was and I did. However my companion, a woman 15 years younger than I, couldn’t see what the big deal was.
“Not Fade Away” is a highly personalized memoir by “Sopranos” creator David Chase, 67.
Chase, who is two years older than I, dreamed of being a star drummer in a rock ‘n’ roll band. As a teenager he played the sock hops, keggers and teen clubs of suburban New Jersey.
As a teenager I did the same thing, only in South and Central Florida. Like Chase I was strongly influenced by the “British Invasion” bands such as the Beatles, Kinks, Animals and Rolling Stones.
The latter group did a version of the Buddy Holly song “Not Fade Away,” which gives the film its title. Wouldn’t you know my most successful group played that very song, with me up front singing and shaking my maracas like Mick Jagger.
Neither Chase nor I became a rock star, but we still have a profound love for the music of our high school and college era.
And so I am a big sucker for Chase’s story of a garage band’s struggles, dreams and disappointments. The main character is Douglas (John Magaro), a curly-haired drummer who discovers he is more valuable as a singer.
Douglas’ best girlfriend and No. 1 fan is the willowy, winsome Grace (Bella Heathcote), who looks like a cross between Jean Shrimpton and Twiggy. Those were “Mod Era” fashion models for those too young to know.
The band has its typical squabbles, rivalries and misunderstandings. Some band members always dream bigger than others and some are more single-minded in their career pursuit. Then there are the inevitable objections of parents, played by James Gandolfini and Molly Price, who can’t understand why their nice boy wants to be such a noisy ruffian.
This is probably not so interesting for those who have never been there, but believe me, Chase’s fable rings true in a fleeting, melancholy way. No, it will never fade away for me either.
Three stars
A Disaster of Impossible Proportions
There are disasters and then there is “The Impossible,” a Spanish film from the makers of the chilling thriller “The Orphanage,” including director Juan Antonio Bayona and screenwriter Sergio G. Sanchez, working with real-life survivor Maria Belon.
The family’s nationality is changed from Spanish to British. Maria is played by Naomi Watts. Her husband Henry Belon is played by Ewan McGregor.
The couple is on a Christmas vacation at a posh seaside resort in Thailand. The stage is set with festive holiday trappings and carefree sun and fun. Unbeknownst to anyone, one of the worst natural disasters is about to happen. A tsunami, spawned by earthquakes far away, hit Asia with a massive wall of water on Dec. 26, 2004.
“The Impossible” is a saga of relentless, unpitying destruction of everything in the tsunami’s path. When the wave hits, Maria is separated from her husband, but she miraculously finds her eldest son Lucas (Tom Holland), and the two literally cling together for survivor.
Both Watts and McGregor are powerful professionals, but the real surprise is young Tom Holland in a star-making turn.
“The Impossible” gets a bit relentless and mired literally in the mud and debris, but it is one of the best-made, most convincing disaster movies of all time.
Three and a half stars
Holocaust Memory Play at Willow Theater
The Women’s Theatre Project is back with a second production, “The Interview,’ opening Friday Jan. 4 and running through Jan. 20 at the Willow Theater of Sugar Sand park, 300 S. Military Trail, Boca Raton.
“The Interview” is the searing memory play by award-winning writer Faye Sholiton.
Directed by Genie Croft, the play stars Harriet Oser as Bracha Weissman, who has become an emotional recluse after the loss of her family to Nazi death camps.
Patti Gardner plays Ann Meshenberg, who records Bracha’s testimony on video. Irene Adjan is Bracha’s daughter Rifka, and Christopher Mitchell is the videographer.
Playwright Faye Sholiton is scheduled to attend opening night.
Tickets are $25. Call 561-347-3948.
Captions: ‘Not Fade Away’ and ‘The Interview’