“The Song” is a wonderful film about love, the hardships of marriage but also discovering love and faith during your darkest hour. Alan Powell and Ali Faulkner make a wonderful onscreen couple thanks to their powerful performance and Richard Ramsey’s writing and directing a film that many people can possibly relate to, makes “The Song” a film worth watching! Recommended!
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DVD TITLE: The Song
DATE OF FILM RELEASE: 2014
DURATION: 116 Minutes
DVD INFORMATION: Color, 2:39:1 aspect ratio, English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai Dolby Digital 5.1, Subtitles: English SDH, Chinese Traditional, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
COMPANY: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
RATED: PG-13 (Thematic elements including some substance abuse, smoking and rude references)
RELEASE DATE: February 10, 2015
Directed by Richard Ramsey
Written by Richard Ramsey
Executive Producer: Kyle Idleman, Tony Young
Producer: Shane Sooter, Cassandra Arza Pelan
Co-Executive Producer: Chris Bolinger, John S. Howard
Cinematography by Kevin Bryan
Music by Vince Emmett
Edited by Jared Hardy
Production Design by Benjamin Rodman
Casting by Regina Moore, Vin Morreale Jr.
Costume Design by Daniel Hawks
Starring:
Alan Powell as Jed King
Ali Faulkner as Rose Jordan King
Caitlin Nicol-Thomas as Shelby Bale
Danny Vinson as Shep Jordan
Aaron Benward as David King
Kenda Benward as Bethan King
Jude Ramsey as Ray King
Gary Jenkins as Stan
Aspiring singer-songwriter Jed King is struggling to catch a break and escape the long shadow of his famous father when he reluctantly agrees to a gig at the local vineyard festival. Jed meets the owner’s daughter, Rose, and an instant connection quickly turns to love. Soon after their wedding, Jed writes Rose “The Song”, which becomes a breakout hit and he is suddenly thrust into the spotlight and a world of temptation. As Jed’s life and marriage begin to fall apart, can he find the strength and the faith to change his path?
Inspired by “Song of Solomon”, a book of the bible accepted as holy scripture, comes the 2014 film, “The Song”.
Written and directed by Richard Ramsey, the film would star Alan Powell (“Out of the Ashes”, “Charlie & Boots”, “Where Hope Grows”), Ali Faulkner (“The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1”, “The Secret Village”), Caitlin Nicol-Thomas (“Nashville”) and Danny Vinson (“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”, “Walk the Line”, “Tallaadega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby”).
The film would begin with Jed King (portrayed by Alan Powell) talking about his parents and how his country singing/musician father and mother met (both were married but had an affair) and his relationship with his father from his younger years and up to his death. But establishing how Jed became a musician.
Jed is a singer/musician who wants a bigger break to perform at a larger venue. His manager Stan (portrayed by Gary Jenkins) advises him to find heart and inspiration of why he wants to sing and to get out of his father’s shadow. He is told about a vineyard holding a festival and wants Jed to play at the event.
Jed would meet Rose (portrayed by Ali Faulkner), the daughter of Shep Jordan (portrayed by Danny Vinson), the owner of the vineyard.
And for his first performance at the festival, he makes a song for Rose and eventually they start dating, fall madly in love and get married. He promises to build a chapel for her and eventually would start a family and have a son.
Meanwhile, Jed creates a song for Rose titled “The Song” and it becomes a hit. His big break eventually leads to a major tour and large venues. But each time he comes home, Rose is tired taking care of her son, while Jed is often touring around the country and when he is home, he just wants a romantic night with his wife, who is often tired and falls asleep before they would do anything.
As Jed continues playing on tour, he meets his opening act, the sexy Shelby Bale (portrayed by Caitlin Nicol-Thomas), a country singer/violinist who immediately has her eyes set on Jed.
But as Jed is busy on tour and feeling that his wife is too busy to have a romantic night with him, he begins to be tempted by Shelby Bale, who wants to have sex with Jed and be with him.
Shelby also tries to help Jed cope with the anxiety of touring across the U.S. by introducing him to drugs and from there, Jed’s life begins to spin out of control.
Will Jed ruin his career and most importantly destroy his marriage and his family?
VIDEO & AUDIO:
“The Song” is presented in 2:39:1 aspect ratio and in English, French, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai Dolby Digital 5.1. Picture quality is very good, as one can expect on DVD. I was hoping the film would have had an HD release with better picture quality and a lossless soundtrack, considering music is dominant throughout the film. But picture quality is good, dialogue and music is crystal clear.
Subtitles are in English SDH, Chinese Traditional, French, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Thai
SPECIAL FEATURES:
“The Song” comes with the following special features:
- Audio Commentary – Featuring audio commentary by writer/director Richard Ramsey
- Meet the Cast – (9:06) The cast of “The Song” discuss their involvement in the film.
- King Solomon on Screen – (4:28) Writer/director Richard Ramsey discusses the integration of the “Song of Solomon” in the film.
- Author Kyle Idleman on Love, Sex & Marriage – (10:49) The use of love, sex and marriage in film.
- Metaphors & Poetry – (4:43) Writer/director Richard Ramsey discusses the use of metaphors and poetry in the film.
- Bryan and Amy: Hope Restored – (4:04) Married couple Bryan and Amy talk about how their marriage was rescued.
- Awaken Love: A Journey for Couples – (2:33) Featuring a promotional video with writer/director Richard Ramsey.
When it comes to Christian films, we have a seen a major transformation from the more independent films to becoming big budget films featuring big screen stars.
But the biggest difference is that the films have become more dedicated to better production quality, better acting, becoming less preachy in terms of its Christian message but most of all, becoming more realistic in its portrayal of modern society .
To show that Christians are far from perfect and typically, their lead protagonist, who often have their faults, find faith and inspiration someway, somehow.
In 2014, “The Song” was released in theaters and while some may feel its a less complex version of the TV drama series “Nashville”, the film is inspired by “Songs of Solomon”, a book in the bible.
The “Songs of Solomon” is rather intriguing in the Bible as it celebrates sexual love between two lovers. Each falling in love, each desiring each other and rejoicing in sexual intimacy.
The way that writer/director Richard Ramsey integrates this into the film is about how an aspiring singer/songwriter named Jed King would fall head over heels with Rose.
But whereas this film could celebrate the love between the two, Richard Ramsey knows that this film, made in this day and age, reality is not always that simple. In this age where marriages can end quite easily, every couple, including Christian couples, have faced problems in their marriage. Ramsey knows not to underscore the problems that can happen within a marriage, the changes in romance between a husband and wife after children. Nor does Ramsey make love seem too perfect. He shows that even Christians can experience significant hardships during a marriage but also, their can be greater love between husband and wife.
But “The Song” was a film that I was absolutely captivated and entertained by the performance of Alan Powell and Ali Faulkner. The chemistry between both talent felt real and convincing. They are the dream couple that you want to root for, but know (especially seeing it in trailers) that their love will be tested.
While the story may seem banal of a popular musician away from his family and goes on tour with another female singer who wants too hook up with him and destroy the marriage. I know there will be some Christian purists who would rather see more integration of God in message of a Christian film, especially in preventing temptation for the story’s protagonist. But Ramsey goes into detail in the audio commentary featured on this DVD of how he was going to portray the couples, and also explaining the use of tattoos in the film and more. It’s a very insightful commentary.
As for the DVD, as much as I would have liked to see this film on Blu-ray, the picture quality and audio is good on DVD. And you get a good number of special features in addition to the audio commentary such as “Meet the Cast”, “King Solomon on Screen”, “Metaphors & Poetry” and more.
If you love the music for the film, it’s important to note that “The Song Album” soundtrack will be released and featured are the music by Alan Powell, Caitlin Nicol-Thomas, Ricky Skaggs, Emmylou Harris and more.
Overall, “The Song” is a wonderful film about love, the hardships of marriage but also discovering love and faith during your darkest hour. Alan Powell and Ali Faulkner make a wonderful onscreen couple thanks to their powerful performance and Richard Ramsey’s writing and directing a film that many people can possibly relate to, makes “The Song” a film worth watching!
Recommended!
