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November 22, 2006
"The Busker" Brings It
Happy Thanksgiving everyone. I just wanted to reprint my review of Stephen Croke's "The Busker." It's an excellent film, some four years in the making from Croke -- a talented director and screenwriter from Lowell.
By ANDREW RAVENS
Sun Staff
Stephen Croke’s inspiration for "The Busker" is just as riveting as the film itself.
Lessons from Croke’s chance encounter 12 years ago with a boy on a street during tumultuous times in Northern Ireland and the time he was held hostage by two black men in a Los Angeles restaurant are strewn throughout the Lowell native’s independent film.
Alex Alexander stars as Seamus O’Mallie, a 13-year-old white boy who falls in love with a black girl during a time of racial unrest in Boston.
The film begins with riots after a white policeman is acquitted in the shooting of an unarmed black man. Seamus then watches as his father, a gifted musician, is shot to death by a black man.
Months later, Seamus meets Ruby (Ayla Rose Barreau) while busking (playing his violin on the street for money) on the streets of Boston. The two are smitten with each other, but are isolated from the community because of their relationship.
While busking in the cold (he keeps warm by chugging vodka in a thermos), Seamus soon meets Oliver (Derry Woodhouse), an older music teacher who wants to take the boy away to London and enroll him in a well-known music school.
Confused, Seamus has some big choices to make and not a lot of people to lean on (his mother drowns her sorrows with the bottle, too) and his brother, PJ (Jeffrey Marcus), is not a big help until he has a race-related revelation.
Filming is primarily set in Lowell, against the city’s beautiful Christmas lights, cobblestone streets, glistening snow and crimson red buildings. Pond hockey scenes, where emotions flare among Seamus’ friends over the interracial relationship, also give the film a rewarding and authentic New England flavor.
Croke wisely taps cinematographer Lukas Ettlin, who worked on "Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning" and 20th Century Fox’s upcoming "Revenge of the Nerds," to capture the city at its best during the holidays.
Almost everything about 87-minute film screams “professional� and “well-crafted,� including the music. Alexander’s violin playing is charming, as are original tunes from Liam O’Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers and Chris Trapper of The Push Stars.
"The Busker" slips just a bit during a few predictable Seamus-Ruby scenes that come across as less genuine and a little corny. During the film’s lighter moments, some attempts at humor fall flat, although that could be more of a judgment of the acting rather than the writing.
Croke penned the screenplay, which was selected as a semi-finalist from more than 5,000 scripts in the 2001 Academy of Motion Picture’s Nicholl Fellowship Awards — widely regarded as the nation’s most prestigious competition for aspiring screenwriters.
Here’s hoping Hollywood takes note of Croke, who knows how to tell a heartwarming story with just the right amount of conflict, reconciliation and love.
“The Busker� premieres on Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Cyrus W. Irish Auditorium, 50 French St., Lowell. Doors open at 6 p.m. and general admission is $10.
Andrew Ravens’ e-mail address is aravens@lowellsun.com.
Posted by Andy Ravens at November 22, 2006 10:19 AM