I’d be surprised if anyone demurred from my assertion that songs, movies and fiction are all sparkling facets of the same jewel.This is especially the case as fiction continues to be a rich vein of storytelling for filmmakers. In my recent and soon to be published chat with Ron Rash (The Cove) he related that his novel Serena was being adapted for film with Jennifer Lawrence in the title role. Lawrence’s portrayal of a teen ager strapped with the heavy burden of caring for her mother and two younger sibling in the (dare I say, hard-scrabble)Ozarks is an indelible one. Oddly, I don’t recall that co-star John Hawkes received much attention for his edgy performance as her lethally dangerous uncle. All of which I was reminded of, as I serendipitously came across a movie entitled Outlaw Country with Hawkes playing a Nashville gangster, Tarzan Larkin. Once again Hawkes features a hair trigger volatility (in one scene he head butts a lesser crime boss not once but twice , in a meeting of the local gangster confederacy). Hawkes does easy going sociopathy quite well and apparently he figures in upcoming (but as yet untitled)Elmore Leonard film.
Ry Cooder, guitarist,film score composer, ethnomusicologist,producer and writer (LA Stories)strikes again with a recording just in time for the up coming silly season conventionally referred to as the 2012 Presidential election campaign. Based on Cooder’s previous recording Pull Up some Dust and Sit Downit’s no surprise that his latest effort, Election Special continues to sound alarm bells for our imperiled republic.
Election Special by Ryland Cooder
