Songcatcher (2000)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Maggie Greenwald

Writer (WGA):

Maggie Greenwald (written by)

Release Date:

1 March 2001 (Australia)

Genre:

Drama | Music

Plot:

After being denied a promotion at the university where she teaches, Doctor Lily Penleric, a brilliant musicologist...

Plot Keywords:

Mountain | Song | Musicologist | University | School

Awards:

5 wins & 5 nominations

Cast

Janet McTeer	...	Professor Lily Penleric, PhD
Michael Davis	...	Dean Arthur Pembroke
Michael Goodwin	...	Professor Wallace Aldrich, PhD
Greg Russell Cook	...	Fate Honeycutt
Jane Adams	...	Eleanor 'Elna' Penleric
E. Katherine Kerr	...	Harriet Tolliver
Emmy Rossum	...	Deladis Slocumb
Pat Carroll	...	Viney Butler
Stephanie Roth Haberle	...	Alice Kincaid
Aidan Quinn	...	Tom Bledsoe
Bart Hansard	...	Hilliard
Erin Blake Clanton	...	Polly
David Patrick Kelly	...	Earl Giddens
Kristin Hall	...	Isabel
Michael Harding	...	Reese Kincaid

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for sexual content and an intense scene of childbirth.

Runtime:

109 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Argentina:13 | Australia:M | New Zealand:M | USA:PG-13 (certificate #37448)

Filming Locations:

Asheville, North Carolina, USA

Company:

ErgoArts

Goofs:

Anachronisms: Kudzu is shown growing in the forest. Kudzu was introduced into Appalachia in the 1930s from Japan to slow erosion. Kudzu would not have been present during the period this movie covers.

Quotes:

Tom Bledsoe: See, that's what you outlanders don't understand. Life is for enjoying, not just getting and working, and getting and working.

Soundtrack:

Pickin' That Thang (Dr. Joe)

I love everything about this film

I happened upon this film by chance and watched it at first because of the beautiful scenery. Hooked. I watch again every chance I get. Janet McTeer is perfect as the intelligent, suppressed Victorian woman. She plays the stiffly proper role perfectly, even after we have seen her rebellious nature early in the film by her involvement with a married man.

I have always felt that Aiden Quinn has been under appreciated. He shines in this film, as does Pat Carroll in a rare serious role. I disagree with those who call the lesbian storyline a distraction. They didn't TALK about sex during Victorian times, but they sure had it! I had no difficulty believing that two women living together in an environment so foreign to their upbringing would develop a closeness which would lead to a physical relationship.

The traditional music was wonderful, but David Mansfield's original score was incredible. My family has lived in the mountains of West Virginia since the sixteen hundreds, there is a family cemetery on the side of a mountain in the woods. Mansfield's "And the Mountains Cried" playing while the coffin was carried up the hill showed me something that could have been a picture from my family's past. It moved me so much that I sent him an email, telling him what an impact his music, especially that song, made . To my surprise, he replied, thanked me, and included the lyrics.

I loved this film. Wonderful music, beautiful costumes, humor, lust, rebellion, murder, and you can't beat the beauty of the location.

I suspect it's a more accurate portrayal of life at that time and place than most people might think.