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Honeydripper will be of the take-it-or-leave-it variety for most viewers. From the start, writer-director John Sayles immerses the audience in the filmmaker’s specialty: a very specific, lived-in milieu in which characters more or less coexist as they normally would. The movie’s less interested in maintaining an accessible narrative arc than in presenting what’s essentially a verité depiction of segregated life in rural Alabama, circa 1950. The screenplay contains a wealth of lived-in, authentic dialogue, expressed with natural precision by the gifted ensemble, and the gold hued cinematography perfectly captures the setting’s wooden buildings, dusty roads and sun-drenched fields.

The particular genius of the filmmaker, then, lies in his evocation of the recognizable emotions latent beneath that unfamiliar surface. The story concerns Tyrone Purvis (Danny Glover), the proprietor of the Honeydripper Lounge, an old-fashioned social hall struggling to compete with the snazzier juke joint across the way. To liven things up, and avoid the landlord’s death knell, Tyrone invents the booking of a popular blues guitarist for a one-night gig at the club. Then, he and his right hand man Maceo (Charles S. Dutton) hype the fictional event incessantly, while simultaneously holding the various negative influences targeting the club at bay

These events unfold in an unhurried fashion, with scenes drawn out and extended to provide sufficient opportunity for the characters to be fleshed out. Sayles derives many of the movie’s pleasures by standing back and observing the rhythms of his protagonists’ daily lives. In doing so, he touches on the major themes therein: the struggle with racism, the entrepreneurial challenges Purvis faces and the complicated religious feelings that underwrite everyday existence.

That’s not to mention the picture’s unquestioned highlight: the snappy, up-tempo blues rock numbers played by Sonny (Gary Clark Jr.), a drifter Tyrone passes off as the star musician. The music is as essential to the character of Honeydripper as any non-musical since O Brother, Where Art Thou?. It’s the lifeblood infused in the proceedings, lending a sense of hope to the darkest moments and providing a basis for communal understanding within the society at hand.

Glover and Dutton perfect a give-and-take that befits the rich, brisk scripting. The lead actor, in particular, hits notes of sadness, regret, cunning and elation with equal ease. His complex demeanor makes Tyrone resistant to easy characterization, coming across as both a compelling patriarchal figure, one full of authority, and a bit of a hustler. It’s a portrayal that befits Sayles’ work. Though it unfolds across a few spare settings and lacks a hefty dramatic surface, Honeydripper resonates with the small victories, bigger challenges and strong emotions inspired by the ebbs of daily life within a particular time and place, as rendered by one of the cinema’s most observant artists.

© 2007 Robert Levin. All rights reserved.

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