As the Crowe Flies

Cameron Crowe is a fucking genius.  He’s one of my creative heroes; a man who syntheses his idiosyncratic script-writing style with picture-perfect soundtracks, track listings to complement his often autobiographical, character-driven stories that have consistently been innovative, devoid of cynicism.  Cameron Crowe is an optimist’s film-maker.  Perhaps that’s why I admire him like I do. 

My favorite movie of all time is ‘Almost Famous’.  The film is an atmospheric coming-of-age tale (loosely based on Cameron’s life) of a starry-eyed teenager with journalistic dreams and a passion for rock ‘n’ roll who befriends Lester Bangs, inadvertently writes for Rolling Stone magazine and goes on the road with fictitious band, Stillwater.  William Miller, free from the restraints of his university professor mother’s unorthodox methods for living and raising her children, makes friends with the fellows of Stillwater and embarks on a didactic and capricious self-discovery.

‘Almost Famous’ is perfectly cast.  In particular, Patrick Fugit who plays the focal point of the story, William Miller, is astonishing as a young, naïve teen on the precipice of adulthood, discovering who he is and where life is going to take him.  He owns the role with perfect pitch, emotion and humour.  His sweet, dimpled face and shy disposition morphs into a more mature human by the end of the film.  As on-lookers, we ripen and share his growing pains with him for the duration of the movie until he is redeemed and credits roll (note optimism).  The rest of the cast, Kate Hudson, Jason Lee, Billy Crudup, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Zooey Deschanel and Fracnces McDormand are all awe-inspiring in their roles.  If ever a movie were perfect in atmosphere, dialogue, character and story development, wit, humour and heart, it’s ‘Almost Famous’.  If you haven’t seen it yet, do yourself a favor and watch it.  You’ll fall in love with the characters and you’ll wonder about them long after it’s over.  I often pop it in the DVD player when I’m sad or plagued with insomnia or just because time spent with those characters is needed.  Sometimes you just need to spend time with your friends.   If you’ve seen the movie, that last statement will mean something to you.

Crowe’s filmography often follows male protagonists who are most often, outcasts, underdogs or subjects of uncoolness and even so, as a female I am still one hundred percent capable of identifying with the plight of these characters.  For example, take Lloyd Dobler from ‘Say Anything’, the greatest modern romance movie ever.  Hopeless and ordinary small fry pours his heart out for a too cool for him girl who inevitably breaks his heart six ways to Sunday.  It’s everyone’s story at one time or another, feeling like you’re so average and tripping over yourself because you’ve fallen head over heels for someone you believe to be out of your league.  Who can’t identify with that?  We’ve all been through it.  ‘She’s gone.  She gave me a pen.  I gave her my heart, she gave me a pen.’  Classic quote, just as classic and iconic as the image of Lloyd standing outside of Diane’s window with a ghetto blaster hoisted up above his head with Peter Gabriel’s ‘In Your Eyes’ playing.  I call it a ‘Say Anything’ moment.  Everyone wants a ‘Say Anything’ moment where someone loves you so much they heave a giant electronic overhead and try and woo you with a romantic song.  I’m still waiting for my ‘Say Anything’ moment and have often been in Lloyd’s shoes, doling them out.  I’m that same loser, my ghetto blaster much smaller and probably prettier, but with the same longings.  Hopeless romantics of the world unite!

I love consistencies in Cameron’s work.  Celebrity cameos, re-occurring themes and faces and subtle nods to other works and somewhere in most everything there is almost always something Eric Stoltz included or intended to be and like how in almost all of his movies there is a scene where someone is singing.  In ‘Almost Famous’ it’s the crew on the bus singing ‘Tiny Dancer’ (which always brings me to tears) and Jerry ‘Show Me The Money’ Maguire belting out Tom Petty’s ‘Free Falling’ while driving.  Mostly though, I just love his innate ability to weave a story so unique, so tight, so full of passionate resolve and so rewarding that you want to revisit them over and over again.  He has an astute knack for pairing his fiction with music that truly takes his writing to a higher plane.  He has molding my popular culture.  He has wrought a body of work, both in a journalistic and film sense that I am in complete awe of.   Cameron is down for the underdog, his ballpoint is sanguine and his record collection is next to heaven and he isn’t afraid to share.  He’s brave and intelligent and has impeccable taste.  He believes in and knows his characters so well that sometimes he writes them with actors in mind but also is very good to choose those who turn them into three dimensional silver-screen ideals.  Real blood and bone, so that while you’re rooting for the happy ending and you’re feeling deeply for their struggles you forget they are actors playing a role and they become their own creative entities.  That is the beauty of Cameron Crowe’s genius. 

If I had the chance to have dinner with one person living or dead, it would be with Cameron Crowe.  If I could be one person just for a day, it would be Cameron Crowe.  If I could choose one creative person to work alongside on a dream project it would be with him.  Crowe is insightful, smart and an all-around mensch.  His writing is inspiring, his keen eye encourages me to be more perceptive in my own word and aspire to his level of humanity and skill.  He’s tasted living, from the ground up.  He portrays live as it truly is and he makes us believe.  I believe very sturdily in what he does, where he’s been, where he takes me and where I have yet to go.

My favorite quote from ‘Almost Famous’, uttered by Lester Bangs, played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman:

‘The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what we share with someone else when we’re uncool.’

Truer words.

I typically recite the movie quietly each time I watch it.  As I’ve already mused, it’s my late-night companion when I can’t sleep and my pick-me-up when I’m blue.  And sometimes, even though it’s probably one of his weaker films, I watch ‘Elizabethtown’ because that whole road map the main character is given to move across the country, complete with CDs to get him from point A to point B, is one of the most beautiful concepts I’ve ever seen.  The story is loosely based on the loss of Crowe’s own father.  It’s a sleepy film but it does pack a wallop if you stick with it and put yourself in the character’s shoes.  There’s a pun there and you’ll know what it is if you’ve seen the movie.

So yes, Cameron Crowe is the man.  If you haven’t seen any of his movies, go educate yourself and suspend in disbelief.  Be prepared for greatness.  I would marry his movies.  He is a true master of his craft.

That’s all I’ve got today.  Popcorn time!

In propinquity,

Nic