A Boat of Honey

Rating: 7/10 (15 November 2009)

Greetings again from the darkness. A rollicking good time with a bunch of music loving rebels, this film is mostly fiction, yet provides a nice glimpse into the mid-1960's British Rock music scene. Don't expect Citizen Kane and you won't be disappointed.
Philip Seymour Hoffman (as The Count) leads the band of merry rock DJ's as they skirt the law and broadcast from sea onboard and trashed out ship owned by by the fabulous Bill Nighy. This troupe includes the likes of (proud and chubby) Nick Frost and Rhys Darby (from Flight of the Conchords). However, when DJ legend Gavin (in a flamboyant role by Rhys Ifans) steps on the ship, it goes to an entirely new level of wackiness.
Being a true devotee of this period of music, I do wish a bit more attention had been paid to struggles to achieve acceptance ... rather than the odd personalities and sexual hijinks of the group, but with more than 60 songs touched, it is difficult to complain.
Lest I forget, January Jones and Emma Thompson have brief, yet significant roles in the human side of the story. Still, the real star here is the music. Writer/Director Richard Curtis does a wonderful thing with some of the clips of British youths stealing a few moments with their radio. The faces often just show a look of total bliss. And that perfectly captures the magic of music - how it just captures our spirit and allows us to escape.
Fast approaching 50 years now, in the words of the great Neil Young, Rock and Roll will never die.