The Girl from the Song (2017) User Reviews

It made me think

[jocee91 · 7/10 · 30 August 2017]

I'm really in trouble when I have to say anything about this movie.

First of all, forget about super cheesy and completely unpredictable story. If you are looking for this you should probably go look elsewhere.

Second, I kinda liked this movie. Although I had problems with character development: sometimes it doesn't really makes sense why a character does what he/she does. I felt that some scenes are over- acted and there is a character who doesn't succeed to fit his role at all.

I said that I kinda liked the movie and that's because it made me remember a girl who broke my heart a long time ago. I know that sounds strange but she had the exact same behavior as Jo has and I felt nostalgic when I was watching the movie. I made the same mistakes/efforts that Eric does and this really made me sad. A few days are already passed since I watched the movie but even if it's not the best movie I ever saw I still think about it a lot. The soundtrack is OK, I think Eric has a great voice ( I guess he's the one who actually sings ).

It was great that the viewer gets involved in the festival as well, I heard about Burning Man before but now I learned a few other infos about it.

Overall it's a nice movie with great soundtrack and scenery and you should definitely watch it if you were ever in love with someone.

Modern day Greek myth

[bryanhallarnold · 7/10 · 27 December 2017]

Only one other review that I read so far hinted at this, but my review will be a more overt. This movie is a modern day version of the famous Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. In short: Eric = Orpheus; Jo = Eurydice; Penelope = Persephone; Alex = Hades; Caronte = Charon; The guy checking tickets at the gate with the Cerberus costume = Cerberus; Burning Man festival = The Underworld; The girls that try to seduce Eric and drug him = The Maenads;

There are some other parallels between the two stories that I won't list for the sake of brevity, and there are probably others that I missed. The stories are pretty similar all the way to the tragic ending. It's a good depiction of Burning Man to someone who has not experienced it (such as myself). Maybe people who have attended the festival won't like the depiction. It is interesting that the movie chose the festival as the parallel to the Greek mythological version of hell. Even the song that the movie title references which Eric writes for Jo includes a lyric about going to hell and back.

The acting and cinematography is good. The story is frustrating in that the main characters' actions are unexplained which is probably intentional, and they are necessary to achieve the parallel tragic ending. One major deviation from the original myth is the Penelope character who hurts Eric's cause which is unlike Persephone who helps Orpheus in some versions of the myth.

If you don't understand what Burning Man is about, this movie may offer an idea of what it looks like, but probably fails at giving an adequate sense of the experience of being there.

Best Burning Man movie I have seen so far....

[mrkobayashi-06496 · 7/10 · 27 November 2017]

While there were times i thought it was a bit cliché, the real burning man experience has that as well anyway, so really, it wasn't that bad. Certainly a better portrayal of that party/exploration vibe that goes on that scene sometimes, if that is what you are looking for at that moment, it is always there, and i think they did a great job showing that not only can that be incredibly shallow and even negative at times as real emotions get the better of people, but it is also filled with incredible beauty and truly life-affirming moments that you cannot find around every corner in most people's lives anyway.

The story is on one hand cliché, but again, there is a reason for the clichés, just because you retell a similar tale of love doesn't mean it is shallow, or not worth watching. Not every single story is original, honestly, it happens rarely, and i would rather see a good cliché story told well than a try too hard to be original, that just comes off as a not believable art piece that the author's and director's ego is front and center the entire film. That to me is getting unbearable to watch and frankly more of a cliché honestly.

It wasn't perfect, no masterpiece, but as far as a film that features Burning Man, by far the best I have seen. BurningMan is largely what you come looking for, that is what he came looking for, before people get all up on me about it, yes, of course that is a fraction of what the entire Burning Man experience can be about, and if would be cool if they could have shown at least one other more real spiritual side of Burning Man that is not just the 'past lives' gag. There are superficial spiritual people there, and then there are people with some really amazing wisdom to share, the only thing left out is that they had one opportunity to show that, but regardless, the part they did show I thought was done well, and was honestly done.

And the cinematography was really good. The actors decent...

I'm heartbroken

[vasilikisol · 7/10 · 3 December 2019]

This movie broke my heart. I didn't like the whole hippie-festival thing but I loved Eric so much. I didn't really like Jo. The ending was totally hopeless. I know it's realistic, I know that not all love stories have a happy ending but I REALLY need a sequel, which probably I'm not gonna get. I feel like their story is not over yet. Eric didn't deserve what he got.

A Superficial Story About Superficial Love

[maja-furlanic · 4/10 · 23 July 2017]

The Girl from the Song is a movie about a story as old as time - a story about young love. Passionate to the extreme, yet superficial to the extreme. The main character Eric, a stereotypical quiet nice guy, falls in love with Jo, a stereotypical wild girl, and follows her all the way to Burning Man in the Nevada desert. What follows is a lot of silly, predictable drama and beautiful images of Burning Man. The movie is like a beautiful picture with no soul. All the main characters look like models who just walked off of a Mad Max-themed fashion show in Paris. Except for one character, who is supposed to play the role of the old, wise man who mentors Eric and helps him on his quest for love, but only comes off as incredibly creepy. I feel like I never got to know who Eric an Jo really are and what motivates them, which made me not care for what happens to them and what becomes of their love story. On a positive note, the two actors who portrayed Eric and Jo were actually pretty convincing, despite the silly script, and there was some good music.

Girl from the shallow end.

[Sleeper-Cell · 2/10 · 7 September 2017]

I really wanted to like this. The title alone conjures up all kinds of romantic imagery.

A young man comes across a young woman and falls in love with her. She warns him every step of the way. The first time they have sex she tells him "This is just sex". That in itself should have woken him up.

But no, he sells his guitar and travels from the UK to Nevada for the Burning Man festival. When he gets there we can see that he has interrupted some kind of menage a trois that is being planned by another woman and her boyfriend.

He is clearly the 5th wheel as it were here. There is a Mad Max Thunderdome fight scene where the other man beats our hero pretty harshly. There is rolling in the mud, lesbian kisses and a fire act.

Nothing really happens though, we never get to know these two people, I certainly didn't care about them and in the end they go their separate ways. Perhaps our hero Eric should have listened more carefully.

Good ironing fodder

[laferguson-90992 · 3/10 · 8 May 2019]

Not of the singles generation myself, so expecting more. Great idea for a plot, but swallowed up in a location that looked like hell. Orpheus would have been at home, but anyone thinking that the Burning Man festival was a happening place might be disappointed. Hell should definitely be something to be avoided, not endured in the cinema, unless it provides something worth going there for. This film can be watched while doing something else - ironing, perhaps. It can be watched out of the corner of one eye, or fast-forwarded and nothing will be missed. Jump from one cliche to the next. The characters are barely tenable and almost indistinguishable. The heroine has long brown hair. Every other female character has long brown hair. The seventies feel doesn't stop there. I know. I was there. The festival is banal and ridiculous. If this is cinematic irony, I really am too old to be reviewing it. A brief and age old message (literally) portrayed in either a poorly realised homage, or one that is so ironically thick, it requires a simpler medium.

Sweet hippy tale with a festival theme.

[amandarenskemann · 8/10 · 22 July 2017]

I thought this was delightful, if simple tale set against the background of the Burning Man festival. The film is strong visually with nice acting, and well-cast characters. I thought it described the artsy-party-heathen vibe of the alt. scene very well, which can be superficial just as it is poetic. I thought the ending was in balance to the rest of the film. Enjoyable - made me nostalgic.

Walking to Burning Man would be less boring (and cliché)

[michael-ernest · 4/10 · 26 November 2017]

Utterly predictable young adult romance. All the emotional depth of Riverdale, with about the same budget for eyebrows, the same artistic passion for two-dimensional character development, and the same target audience in mind.

I'd have rated it a 5, but the Burning Man locale is so arbitrary, I'll deduct a point for that. The artistic license for setting, generally, is absurd. The Reno airport wouldn't recognize itself in this movie. I get the whole middle-of-nowhere idea, but it sure doesn't have to start there. Let this poor emo sap run out of cab money by Wadsworth -- which he damn sure would -- and start it there. So many lazy details. The writers might have at least visited the area with their eyes open to get a better sense of what's actually there.

And the male lead is supposed to be some guitar virtuoso? The playing's OK. No one's going to fall in love with it, unless maybe you're a young, rapid-cycling manic British girl with absolutely no problems who has taken her wild-child diagnosis and decided to run with it.

When adverts become movies

[chruebert · 3/10 · 19 March 2019]

My best friend says it is impossible to watch movies with me, because i am constantly nippicking and can not stop seening the wrong sides of movies. I disagree we have seen Hollywoods steady downfall for the last 10 years or so and this Flick is one of the best examples.

I really welcome ther faith of a project being shot at a live festival, as well as not the usualy cheesy love story. However this movie seems to be written by people who never were in a serious relationship and it is more shocking to see it was written by two woman. There is not enough interaction between the characters to make anything that is happening believeable and the action needed to turn foes to friends or the other way around is soo little, you'll think you had blackouts while watching the movie. Characters opinions are turned upside down so quick you can not even asume they have feelings nor a personality. Their motives are shallow and so as any human interaction there is, but don't worry 70% of all human interactions is emoting. In the second half of the film it turns into a pretentious advertisement campaign for the Burning Man Festival and it is sooo bad i finally quit ever thinking about going there.

They really missed so many spots to give Jo a bit of a depth and the scene that should be a huge turning point in the movie and supposed to be a directors bread and butter of a romantic movie. It is about 60 seconds long. If you happen to be deaf, you'll be fine watching it at the cinema and spare yourself from terrible dialogues which are mostly one liners. They've built up this mentor relation ship with the taxi driver to just give a away so much potential. They did not use the time wondering through the festival of the main char and show a bit of festival culture or make him discover the nature of his feelings for her. Gosh there were endless ways to turn this movie into a modern love story without protraying the perople as nymphomaniacs and making us even question the existance of their friendships.

Long story short... all of the human characters in this movies are a build up of stereotypes that fail either to surprise or to even understand their whereabouts. When the credit rolled i finally have seen the first movie where i absolutely hated any character in it...

Full of stupidity

[rohitk-62767 · 4/10 · 9 June 2018]

A completely boring movie full of stupidity. If you need to travel thousands of miles for a girl then better to change the girl.

Complete waste of precious time on earth. Run far away!

[duplessisja · 1/10 · 23 July 2017]

Goodness gracious. This is literally the poorest film I have ever seen in my life. If they did not make this film, hundreds of homeless people could have been clothed or fed with the funds. But rather the director, knowing full well he is making rubbish, decided to press on and complete this film. What a poor and selfish decision to spend money on this production. I will lie awake night worrying about the state of the world if films like these are made. Rather give the budget to two toddlers with crayons - we will surely enjoy a better film. There is no story, no character depth or development in this movie. I can't even!?!? This script was obviously written while drunk and as a joke (or dare). I advise people to rather watch the sunset, paint dry or leaves brown than this complete nonsense. You have been warned. Good jolly banjos. What is this world coming to?

An Unexpected Experience

[alexanderiby · 9/10 · 1 August 2017]

Going into this film I had not read much about it, and I typically like to know what i'm diving into. But I decided to take the risk and give it a watch. The more the movie's plot began to fill in, the more you got to know the main character Eric and the more you felt connected to him. Eric was a big reason why I stayed glued to the screen. He gave such a genuine feel to the movie. As so did the girl he falls in love with "Jo". She is a magical person with such a rich personality, and so much mystery. The two of them together created an essence that was addicting to watch. By the end of the movie, I was very pleased with how it went. I would suggest giving it a watch, especially when you have some alone time to really get sucked into the plot.

PURE SH** don't waste your time.

[shourovchakma · 2/10 · 27 January 2020]

I can't believe I have downloaded it on first place. Totally meaningless movie on modern days' hippies. This girl and her activities will remind you of Summer from 500 days of summer. Anyways; bottom line is this movie is a "waste of time ".

Bad

[ozlemozdemirw · 1/10 · 21 March 2020]

These days we stucked at home. Try to spend time. This movie wasn't helpful, very bad. I even skipped a lot of scenes to reach to the end. Boring film.

Nothing at all to like here

[skpn123 · 1/10 · 15 February 2019]

This (not epic) tale describes an obsessive stalker who chases said object of obsession all the way from the UK to the Burning Man Festival.....oh so sick, distasteful and depressive - nothing to like here for me......

Not to good.

[rafaelhjb · 4/10 · 4 March 2018]

It's a theme that has been done many times before, and that's ok, but in this case, the acting is ok, but the script is kind of cheesy. There are moments in the movie that it could of been good, but it was not.

Not your Classic cheesy love story

[olivier_ciprietti · 10/10 · 22 July 2017]

From Spain, this uncommon movie tells us a good love story from London to the desert of Nevada. Without tears or violins maybe, but with lyricism and guitars instead. Nothing seems easy for our modern Orpheus but why should it be? His little Trip to find love will put him face to face with himself and the complexity of relationships. Sided by the beauty of music. Acting is great, script and scenario fantastic and the music score is perfect. Half of the movie was shot at The Burning Man festival with breathtaking images from the location. A special mention for Sir Owen. Loved his part. For me, a "must see" for the "Singles" generation. And also the others. Especially if you don't like love stories..

Shallow plot and characters a Burning Man Fan-Fiction movie

[daraltucker · 1/10 · 26 May 2020]

This movie is a complete waste of time. There is no actual plot, and nothing about the 2 main characters to create any chemistry or to "root" for them or their relationship. If you have actually been to Burning Man I think you will find this movie to be completely laughable. If you haven't been to Burning Man - this movie should be viewed as 99 ways to Have a Terrible Time at Burning Man and what NOT to do to get ready for Burning Man.

Just didn't get there for me

[taedirish · 5/10 · 19 February 2021]

Tbh I found this movie confusing. It's listed as a Spanish film but everyone spoke English, most with a British accent... Secondly it was never very clear what country this was set it. Looks like England in parts but they keep referring to burning man which is typically in the USA, except there is a version of it held in Spain... Those unclear points aside, a nerdy music school kid falls for a carefree girl whose entire ambition appears to be going to burning man festival. Add to that, all her friends seem to hate the new guy because they want to keep sleeping with the French girl. I've lived long enough to know if your girlfriend suddenly runs away, best to let her go. Chasing after love is a juvenile concept. I did like the cab driver, who served as a sort of conscience to the musician when he chases after the girl. While I appreciated they spoke English, thus saving me the trouble of reading subtitles, I felt ultimately the plot felt a C little too teenage love story for my taste

More like a weekend VLOG

[cohjoe · 1/10 · 1 August 2021]

Hippie girl meets city boy.

Hippie girl is caught in a moment of awe during a gig which is fairly cliche, and dumbs down the entire female specials.

The music festival isn't as spectacular as the script tried to write in.

Hippie friend keeps the prospective couple apart who never really had anything real to work from except a song.

An unsatisfying ending perfect to keep a vagabond audience thinking their life choices are righteous lol

The taxi driver side kick and moral conscience of the film didn't really offer much which may have looked better on paper.

Perhaps a stronger guitar performance when introduced to the camp could have increased the tension about this protagonist being up for the challenge, then when he failed we might have felt something more. These characters dont have arcs that merge in a successful way.

Also I may not have been paying attention but wasn't the event meant to be free? The obstruction getting in at the gate served no purpose but to introduce another redundant character.

Prob should have been with held from production until cleaned up further.

Cliché and shallow, pre-teen aimed

[ileanamog · 3/10 · 24 November 2022]

I was so disappointed by almost everything about this movie. The wild (manic pixie cliché) girl falls literaly onto the quiet (soft boy cliché) artist arms... and though they know nothing of each other they embark in an adventure of music (the only salvageable thing) and love (no story whatsoever). But if we are honest it's creepy that a guy just jumps the gun and starts including himself in the girl's plans without asking or consideration and is quite possessive from the start and it's honestly appalling the way the girl is a pick-me alternative girl that is so "independent" yet has no judgement nor self awareness. It was half boringly predictable filler movie and half perfume ad (slo-mo abuse warning).... I have to say that among the romantic movies that revolve around music, youth and indie scene this one falls the flatest of them all. Not much to remember, much to try to forget but a good background if you are in junior high getting your first kiss.

An indie Romance

[tayyabahassan · 8/10 · 3 September 2017]

Such a good movie with a sense of very loud yet silent love. It gives you classic feels and takes you to place where you feel free, your soul is free and free people around.its a Very different story yet one problem there should be one last scene. I mean at the end you so want that last scene and all you get is end credits rolling.

Good stuff

[harrys-42986 · 8/10 · 25 November 2017]

Unrealistic obviously but what's wrong with a classic tale. We've all been in love and there are people we would travel the world for just to keep in our lives. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't but it's nice to see in movies that happy endings aren't always guaranteed. Don't think it was made to be a deep and profound movie but I enjoyed it very much and worth the watch if you're in that mood.

True Passionate Love

[mikailtascioglu · 9/10 · 21 August 2017]

This movie shows the truth in passionate love, it doesn't always work out but the journey itself makes it all worth it. The main character Eric was what drove me to see this movie through, his raw emotion and love for this girl Jo that he hasn't known too long is so real, this is what passionate love is, if you're a passionate lover and finding it hard to understand what passionate love truly is this move is for you. Love is not sugarcoated in this movie, this is real passionate love between two totally different people with different morals and goals they want to achieve. Give this a watch, you'll be doing yourself a favor.