The Guitar - Sundance

[Fairweather Pure]

I'm normally not a Sundance geek, but this year has a couple of flicks that have caught my attention. I think this one sounds really good, and it's been getting excellent reviews so far.

The Guitar marks the directorial debut of actress Amy Redford, and what a fine debut this. One might initially think of this as a maudlin tale, but how it changes into something that is completely unexpected. Saffron Burrows stars as a young woman diagnosed with a severe cancer that will leave her speechless and gasping for air.

Melody Wilder (Saffron Burrows) is diagnosed with a terminal illness fired from her thankless job and abandoned by her boyfriend. With nothing left to lose, given two months to live, she spends her entire life's savings renting an empty palatial loft in the Village.

Thinking she'll never have to pay the piper, she lives off her credit cards, fills the loft with the fanciest products, sensually and sexually engages both the parcel-delivery man (Isaach de Bankole) and a pizza delivery girl (Paz de la Huerta) and teaches herself to play the electric guitar she's craved since childhood.

The Guitar is an unexpected, sexy, life affirming, truly wonderful work, featuring a career-defining performance by the fearless and stunning Saffron Burrows. This is a film that has much to offer but witnessing the evolution of an actress in a short space of time, truly makes this cinematic journey all the more rewarding.

As her character evolves and embraces life when life appears to be so short, so does the actress who plays her. But The Guitar is a film about living life and fulfilling one's dreams no matter how bizarre. Burrows' Wilder is an exquisitely created character who begins her new life naked as a baby learning to literally live life again.

There is little doubt that the film will be sold within days, for this is a seductive, mesmerizing crowd pleaser, that is poignant, hilarious and ferociously erotic. Redford directs with flair and assuredness and has a great future behind the camera. As for Burrows, though she has been on the scene for years, a star is well and truly re-born.