Starring: JK Simmons, Lou Taylor Pucci, Julia Ormond, Cara Seymour, Scott Adsit, Mia Maestro
Directed By: Jim Kohlberg
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I had heard really good things about this film back when it came out in 2012, but I never got around to seeing it. It took until now, and it had a lot to do with my new found appreciation for JK Simmons following Whiplash. I thought he was incredible in Whiplash, and he’s incredible here too. The fact is that JK Simmons has been turning in great work for years, and you can make all the Farmers jokes in the world, but it won’t take away his fantastic work on screen.

The Music Never Stopped follows one fathers (Simmons) quest to reconnect with his son (Pucci), who has lost a significant amount of his memory (and ability to create new ones) due to a brain tumor. He does some research and looks a little into music therapy, since music was such a big part of his sons life. He hires a music therapist (Ormond), who works to help bring back some memories and come up with a structure that can help his son feel normal again. The same music that tore them apart years ago, may be the very music to bring them back together.

It’s actually an incredible story about a dad who would literally do anything to be able to have a conversation with his son. See, dad doesn’t like the same music his son does. He likes the old music of the 40’s and 50’s. The son likes the Grateful Dead and the Rolling Stones. He’s a hippy, and he protested vietnam. But dad learns to like and appreciate the music his son loves, because it opens up a door of conversation, and helps to reconnect memories. The son goes from barely being able to communicate, to being able to tell lush stories about each song, as long as the music is playing. But, can he create new memories?

It’s one of those films that pulls at your heartstrings the whole time. It’s as if someone took the final scenes of The Notebook and stretched it out over an hour and a half. Lots of memory loss moments instead of just one big one. And an ending that just breaks you.

Currently available on Netflix, The Music Never Stopped is a movie I feel like I have to immediately recommend to someone… anyone… which is the same way Whiplash made me feel right after. There was an urgency that I had to share this movie with other people, which I can’t say for the last Transformers movie, or whatever superhero/reboot just came out this week. There’s great work being done in independent film, and this story is so universal and mainstream that it should be accessible. At the heart of the movie is a father and a son with a strained relationship, and two people working to build a bridge that had long since been torn down.

Do yourself a favor, and enjoy The Music Never Stopped.

FINAL GRADE: A