DVD Reviews

DVD Review: LA Blues

By June L. Apr 22, 2008, 14:22 GMT

No one can really explain it, but there does exist a sort of fascination with how men communicate when they are among friends. Perhaps it is because most women don’t actually believe that men have the capability to participate in any kind of meaningful social divulging of information.

And most men would rather die than admit that they have shared anything other than how much they paid for the latest automobile or an opinion on the definition of “hot” when observing females. Written and directed by Ian Gurvitz, LA Blues is a movie that explores the connections in the lives of six friends over the course of a year. Anyone who sees this movie will be surprised by many things, including the amount of information that is really shared. I did not know what to expect from this film, as on the surface it appeared to be one of those buddy comedy-ish stories with lots of drinking, even more swearing, loose women and well, you know the type. Framed in such a way that the film starts with a bang…..a gun goes off inside a parked car that a guy has just left, and now he is being questioned by a woman detective, the movie certainly does not lack excitement. The rest of the action takes place inside the bar, which we soon learn is owned by the guy who just witnessed the shooting. Bobby (Kevin Rahm) sits down with the detective to tell her the story of the past year amongst the six friends, one of whom was in the gunshot car. It becomes a guessing game for the audience as Bobby tells the stories, to decide who was so unhappy as to want to end it all. We are introduced to each of the characters through Bobby’s narration, but we see each story as the guy involved is telling it to his buddies. Occasionally there is a scene outside the bar, to highlight an event or action that one guy has witnessed. There is one woman in the group, Carla (Marsha Thomason) who is bartender for Bobby, but is an integral part of the friendships. The guys accept her as a lone sister, and with these five unusual ”brothers,” she has to be tough enough to keep them in their places. In LA Blues action is not as important as character development. Starting with a bar full of unknowns we of the audience gradually become one of the group as we move through the year via Bobby’s narrative. From a mix of oddball characters, personality traits are revealed, depth of emotion comes through, honesty and generosity are exposed along with false moves, idiotic behavior and total childishness. The absolute wonder of wonders is that you soon discover that you care about each one of the guys as if he has become your friend. La Blues is single disc, widescreen format with a running time of over 97 minutes. There are some good special features in interviews with the filmmakers and cast, which give insight into the action. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the writing and the adeptness of the performances. All of the cast members were excellent, but watching Anthony Michael Hall evolve from a callous Hollywood agent into a caring person, and then observing Dave Foley consistently exhibit the characteristics of a truly noble man in spite of a stressful situation had a touching effect that made the whole film experience even more satisfactory. One can watch this film on the surface and enjoy the story, but take time to look deeper at the truths that are revealed along with the friendships that exists among these individuals. LA Blues is now available at Amazon. As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.