Music for Grown-Ups - 05/01/2004 : Wonder boys showcased

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Celebrating great musicians
by Gerry Smith

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05/01/2004

Wonder boys showcased

Indulging a consuming interest in music is an absorbing use of leisure time. But it has a downside - for example, you have to give up on other pastimes. In my case, cinema - this film buff is now an ex-film buff.

So I only caught Wonder Boys, for the first time, last night. It's an exquisite little movie - a beautifully crafted script, strong casting, especially Michael Douglas and "James", his disciple. It tracks a lost weekend in which Douglas ("Tripp"), the appropriately-named middle-aged novelist/professor sees it all slip away, and then finds new purpose. Not an all-time great movie, because of its limited ambition, but still a must-see minor film.

But what about that soundtrack, featuring outstanding songs by all four of the leading Boomer rockers:

* Dylan (Things Have Changed, Not Dark Yet),
* Van the Man (Philosopher's Stone - probably the best song he's written in the last twenty years, and, occasionally, one of the soaring peaks of his live shows),
* Neil Young (Old Man),
* Leonard Cohen (Waiting for the Miracle)?

For a film with Wonder Boys' aims, it would be difficult to programme a better soundtrack sampling of the godfathers of '60s/'70s rock. The full soundtrack album, with another half dozen lesser contributors, is not so convincing, but those songs which are audible in the movie (above, plus Lennon's Watching the Wheels Go Round) are quintessential rock music for grown-ups.

If you haven't already seen it, I suggest you consider renting Wonder Boys. Soon.

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