Almost Famous

"What are you listening to?" "Stillwater" "Stillwater? That kid's doing drugs" Been looking forward to this one for a long time. I don’t know why I waited so long to watch Almost Famous, it's a film I always knew I’d like but just never gave it the time of day, and I’m happy to say that it's even better than I could’ve hoped. William is one of the greatest film protagonists I think I’ve ever seen, and everything he said just spoke to me in a weirdly personal way; a really relatable and well-written character. He's complex, emotional, generic, and nonchalant all at the same time, he is the epitome of a teenage boy and I’m happy to finally see a film depict the group correctly. The fact that he’s both a mama's boy and a rebellious spirit only further helps build his character; he doesn’t know what he is yet, and that’s okay, he can go against authority while acting like a total geek and it wouldn’t feel out of character. In fact, every character is well-written, they all get funny one liners or profound moments of introspection and it all just makes the film so much more real. The amount of A-list celebrities meshed with C-list ones only perpetuate the strong acting, we get some of Phillip Seymour Hoffman's best work here. Aside from William, Lester Bangs is probably the best character writing-wise, he’s simultaneously in the background and front and center for pretty much the entire film and it only adds to his mystique as William's bad influence Narratively, it's as good as cinema gets. It doesn't bullshit around and hands the viewer the plot, no questions asked and no padding around the important stuff, it gets straight to the point and that’s a really respectable motif. No scene feels like filler but the plot also drags a bit in the best way possible, there’s so many moments that are given the chance to breath and let the cinematography speak for itself, which is probably my favorite aspect of the film. Oh, I almost forgot the mention the cinematography, because Jesus it’s flawless. No shot is too complex but no shot is too flat, it's just totally generic in it's presentation and that only adds to the charm and aesthetic they were clearly going for Did I say the cinematography was my favorite aspect of the film? Well, I lied, because it’s without a doubt the brilliant score. I usually despise when films try too hard to jam in as many licensed songs as they can afford, but it helps build up the film's plot in genius ways. So many scenes are elevated simply because of the music, and that’s something I can’t say about a lot of other films. If I had one fault with Almost Famous, it's that it feels like it doesn’t really begin until the 30 minute mark, which is okay because it’s two hours long, but I just wish we got a little more plot instead of just a half hour of world building I say this with basically every film I watch, but I’m comfortable calling Almost Famous one of my favorite films of all time. It’s funny, it’s heartwarming, it’s embolic of the era it came out, and also they say the word Stillwater a lot which is funny cause of the meme. Phenomenal film all around, please give it a chance if you haven’t already God, I wish I lived in the '70s