The Guitar (2008)

The life of a woman is transformed after she is diagnosed with a terminal disease, fired from her job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she throws caution to the wind to pursue her dreams.

Director:

Amy Redford

Writer:

Amos Poe

Stars:

Saffron Burrows, Isaach De Bankolé, Paz de la Huerta

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Saffron Burrows	...	Melody Wilder
Isaach De Bankolé	...	Roscoe Wasz
Paz de la Huerta	...	Constance 'Cookie' Clemente
Mia Kucan	...	Young Mel
Adam Trese	...	Mr. Laffs
Janeane Garofalo	...	Dr. Murray
Owen McCarthy	...	Himself - Everyothers' Singer
Joel Cannon	...	Himself - Everyothers' Guitar Player (as Joel B. Cannon)
Ben Toro	...	Himself - Everyothers' Bass Player
John Melville	...	Himself - Everyothers' Drummer
Reg Rogers	...	Brett
David Wain	...	Phone Man
Elizabeth Marvel	...	Ma Wilder
Bill Camp	...	Pa Wilder
Richard Short	...	Loser Musician

Storyline

The transformation of a woman after she is diagnosed with a terminal illness, fired from her thankless job and abandoned by her boyfriend. Given two months to live, she blows her savings and maxes out her credit cards to pursue her dreams, which include romance and learning to play the electric guitar.

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Plot Keywords:

guitar | electric guitar | terminal illness | pizza delivery | female nudity | 

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Genres:

Drama | Music | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content, nudity and some language

Details

Official Sites:

Official site

Country:

USA

Language:

English Mandarin Panjabi

Release Date:

18 January 2008 (USA)

Also Known As:

Kytara

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Company Credits

Production Co:

Applecreek Productions, RedGuitar, Breakout Pictures

Technical Specs

Runtime:

95 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Trivia

This film was shot in 21 days.

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Goofs

Isaach De Bankolé plays a character named "Roscoe", and according to the movie he is named after a small town in upstate New York. This implies that he's a NY native, though he speaks with a reasonably-thick African accent (the actor is from the Ivory Coast).

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Quotes

Melody Wilder: I just bought a guitar.
Roscoe Wasz: Great.
Melody Wilder: And then I have to get, you know, amps and stuff for the guitar. What?
Roscoe Wasz: You're spending money like there's no tomorrow.
Melody Wilder: There is no tomorrow. All my tomorrows are yesterday. Anyway, I'm charging it.

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Soundtracks

"John I'm Only Dancing"
Written by David Bowie

User Reviews

Subtle and tender

The Guitar starring the stunning Saffron Burrows in a low-fi take on changing gears. A parable of the drudgery of modern life, the cancer we discover she has in the first minutes, is almost an allegory for modern life: slow death at the office. She then becomes both a recluse and a free spirit - out of touch but via the power of the credit card very much in touch with who her superego would want her to be.

What we love in this was the pacing - rather than slow a better word would be tender - the Guitar uses film to draw us into the perspective of a dying woman through sound, sight, and feeling and for a directorial debut this is powerful stuff.

it has a simplicity in the film-making. This far outweighs any nudity - and it does have an eroticism to it which is well handled - but really does not make the viewer feel like a voyeur. I felt an initial disappointment at how the ending is set up but it is, on reflection, well-handled from that point on. There is a quality to the ending which colors how you see the whole film let's the plot devices slide by.

If I were to choose two words for this they would be subtle and tender

• and from my point of view I can't think of no better praise for this

particular type of drama than that.

An auspicious beginning for Robert Redford's daughter Amy in her directorial debut.