A Love Song for Bobby Long

• Condition: New
• Format: DVD
• AC-3; Closed-captioned; Color; Dolby; Dubbed; DVD; Subtitled; Widescreen; NTSC

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (2003): Seventeen-year-old Griet must work to support her family and becomes a maid in the house of Johannes Vermeer, where she gradually attracts the master painter's attention. Johannes and Griet must hide their inspiration of each other from his vo latile wife Catharina. The wealthy and troublemaking Master van Ruijven senses the intimacy between the artist and his maid and cont rives a commission for Vermeer to paint Griet alone. The result will be one of the greatest paintings ever created, but at what cost? A GOOD WOMAN (2006): A notorious seductress enters a gossipy society and entices the husband of a faithful young woman, delighting the gossips and prompt ing a series of unexpected consequences. AN AMERICAN RHAPSODY (2001): Nastassja Kins! ki and Tony Goldwyn star as a hungarian couple persecuted by an oppresive Communist government. Forced to flee their country, the leave their baby girl with Hungarian foster parents. Several years later, the girl, Suzanne Scarlett Johansson), reunited with her mother and father in California. But as Suzanne gros, so do the questions about her mysterious past and heritage, as she embarks on an unforgettable journey of self-discovery.2009 collaboration between the singer/songwriter and actress/vocalist. Includes eight original compositions by Pete/Scarlett in the spirit of Serge Gainsbourg's recording with Brigitte Bardot. The album re-enacts the tempestuous course of a love affair on the rocks. The album had its genesis in the aftermath of a breakup in 2006. After Yorn was unable to sleep for a week, he finally dozed off, only to wake with a start just minutes later. What had awakened him was a dream. "I sat up in bed, and the whole thing was in my head, fully formed," Yorn! says, sounding as if he still doesn't quite believe it. "I su! ddenly f elt like I really needed to make a record in the style of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot. Not that it had to sound like that, but it had to be a guy-and-girl conceptual thing. So then I asked myself, 'Who's Brigitte Bardot today? It's Scarlett Johansson.'" Featuring an interpretation of the classic 'I Am the Cosmos' by the late Chris Bell co-founder of Big Star.Match Point is "a winning combination of sex, mystery, brilliant writing and first-rate acting that all adds up to one of the most erotic and exhilarating movies in years." (Maxim). Chris (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) is being torn apart by his desire for two very different women. Marrying Chloe (Emily Mortimer) will bring him a life of wealth and success, but his true passion lies with his brother-in-law's fiancee, the stunningly sensuous but unpredictable Nola (Scarlett Johansson). Pulsing with tension, Match Point rides the dangerous line between ambition and obsession to an ending as surprising as it is chilling.T! he passion of mad love and the cold calculations of social climbing collide in Woody Allen's Match Point. Former tennis pro Chris Wilton (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Velvet Goldmine) stumbles into good fortune when Chloe Hewett (Emily Mortimer, Lovely & Amazing), the daughter of a wealthy businessman, falls in love with him. But when Chris meets Nola Rice (Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation), a much deeper passion is stirred--and his desire isn't deterred when he discovers that Nola is already dating Chloe's brother. But when their affair threatens Chris's increasingly cozy lifestyle, Chris begins to consider a drastic solution. Match Point starts deftly and ends with cunning; though the middle bogs down in banal plot mechanics, Woody Allen fans have justly hailed it as a comeback after Allen's last few cinematic stumbles. Despite weaknesses (Allen still seems to have lost touch with the mundane realities of life; his characters operate in ! a strange, weightless world of wealth and privilege), the stro! ng perfo rmances and clean direction carry the movie through. Also featuring Brian Cox (X-Men 2, Adaptation). --Bret FetzerRecorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana’s Cajun country, Scarlett Johansson’s debut album Anywhere I Lay My Head features her distinctive vocal interpretations of ten songs by legendary singer-songwriter Tom Waits. It also introduces one original track, "Song For Jo," which she co-wrote with David Andrew Sitek (TV on the Radio), who produced the album and lent his instrumental skills throughout. The title track comes from Waits’ 1985 opus Rain Dogs, and Johansson’s set also pulls cuts from Alice, Swordfishtrombones, Big Time, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers & Bastards, Real Gone, Small Change and Bone Machine. David Bowie adds backing vocals on two tracks, "Falling Down" and "Fannin Street," and the disc also features the talents of Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner and multi-instrumentalist Sean Antanaitis from Celebration, am! ong others.

On an album of Tom Waits covers one should rightly expect some derelict bravado and gruff to make it a credible cover album. But when the vocals are delivered by the divine Scarlett Johansson, you’re already treading in different waters. Add music which offers deeply layered and evocative soundscapes from a deft lineup of musicians that includes members of Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, TV on the Radio, and a guest appearance by David Bowie, and you’ve got something altogether different than one would expect on a Tom Waits cover album.

Fans of the old storyteller won’t recognize some of these versions. Instead, at least on a few notable tracks, fans of bands like Cocteau Twins, This Mortal Coil,and Dead Can Dance will recognize derivative and signature sounds from these mainstays of the venerable bands from the 4AD music label. On this her first musical venture aware from the big screen, Scarlett approaches the art of music by re-envisioning Tom’s old songs! with both purpose and pensive respect for the artist she cove! rs.

--Lucas Hilbert

On the day Academy Award-nominated actress Scarlett Johansson was born, Tom Waits was holed up in an L.A. studio knocking off the final gin-soaked lines of Rain Dogs, his near-perfect album of 1985. That Johansson’s cool enough to be a fan of Waits’ character-driven songs and distinct rasp is one thing; choosing to cover 10 of his songs for her first album (and naming it after the lone Rain Dogs selection) could be downright precarious. Expect the robust voice that is her big-screen reputation, which, after the kick-off instrumental “Fawn” (Alice, 2002), makes its debut on Town With No Cheer (Swordfish Trombones, 1983). Backed by a Waits-like orchestra of pump organ, vibes, horns and wind chimes, Johansson pulls off her best performa! nces on the songs that beg for her persona. She makes “Big Time” (Big Time, 1988) and “I Wish I Was In New Orleans” (Small Change, 1976) sound like her own, finding irony in the respective lines “Come from St. Petersburg, Scarlett and me” and “By the whiskers on my chin, New Orleans, I’ll be there.” The latter, led merely by a music box, is the record’s finest, leaving a Waits fan to wonder what Johansson could do with “Tango Til They’re Sore” or “The Piano Has Been Drinking.” Trouble arises when arrangements are alteredâ€"“I Don’t Want To Grow Up” sounds like Blondie, circa 1981”â€"but, all in all, it’s a nice effort. --Scott HolterLOVE SONG ! FOR BOBBY LONG - DVD MovieA misfit drama in the grand Southern! (by way of Hollywood) tradition, A Love Song for Bobby Long takes its cue from Carson McCullers's The Heart Is a Lonely Hunter. Re-establishing his indie-cred, John Travolta adds Bobby Long to his gallery of colorful characters. Hobbled by an infected toe, the 50-something Bobby is a white-haired, unshaven, vodka-soaked mess. But he’s also a former English professor, and the piles of books in his ramshackle house, and the authors he drunkenly quotes give him a wounded dignity. Just how wounded will be revealed over the course of this atmospheric tale of redemption and penance. Bobby lives with Lawson Pines (Gabriel Macht), his former teaching assistant who is writing a book about his mentor, a project deferred by drinking, sitting around with the locals, or engaging in quotation oneupsmanship. Scarlett Johansson (Lost in Translation, Ghost World) holds her own against Travolta ("You are such a shameless ham," she chastises the loquacious Bobby) as Purs! y, the estranged daughter of Lorraine, a recently deceased singer-songwriter in whose house Bobby and Lawson reside. A battle of wills between the two men and the headstrong young girl gives way to the formation of a tentative family unit. Pursy agrees to return to high school if Bobby and Lawson quit drinking. There will be the expected revelations, recriminations, and dramatic confrontations, but what makes this Love Songresonate are the performances by a cast that rarely hits a false note. --Donald Liebenson