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Destination Anywhere
Destination Anywhere is a bizarre combination of film-noir and musical. These genres are generally on the opposite ends of filmmaking, and this film proves that they cannot mix. Film-noir is too interested in dark streets, anti-heroes, and pessimism. The movie musical exuberates with life and color, creating generally feel-good moods from its plotline, which only serves to shuffle the audience along from one musical number to the next. To combine them is mixing oil and water, so Destination Anywhere is ultimately a failure. Nevertheless, it is reasonably well-written with a strong cast. If the filmmakers had only abandoned the music and stuck with the drama, they might have had a masterpiece on their hands. This short indie-film is based on Jon Bon Jovi’s 1997 solo album of the same name, and it incorporates themes and lines from album into the story with reasonable competence. As a band, I have always found the Bon Jovi band to be fluffy but sincere. Sure, every song that they sing is more or less “Living on the Prayer” (their most famous song) with slightly different lyrics, but then, they are a little like James Bond movies that way. Fans show up to hear the same formula sung over and over again with the same basic rift and arch, and as long as Bon Jovi sticks to what they’re good at, everyone’s happy. It also helps that they’re not bad musicians. Destination Anywhere, the album, was a departure from the normal Bon Jovi formula, as it played like a personal quest for Jon to distance himself from his band. With low-key, experimental sounds and surprisingly poetic, engrossing lyrics, it was an impressive solo endeavor, polar opposite of the big-haired, spandex legacy of the band’s pretty-boy rock. Now, here is the film, and with it, Jon seems distances himself even farther from his old image. Here he plays a down-and-out, Jimmy Dean-like character who drinks too much, smokes too much, and gambles too much in an attempt to escape from the hell of his drugged-up wife Janie (a superb Demi Moore), who is still depressed from the tragic death of their young daughter, killed a few years earlier in a car accident. The plot does not stray far from the conflict between the husband and wife, and Destination Anywhere is more or less a character study as two tortured souls who both love and hate one another at the same time try desperately to find common ground. As long as the movie stays on this course, it is superior. Jon Bon Jovi is a very gifted, subtle actor. He always plays his characters for their strengths, regardless of their personal flaws and shortcomings, and both his heroes and his scoundrels remain thoroughly likable. He displays a natural charm here, despite the fact that his life and marriage are falling apart around him. Demi Moore has always played tragic and tortured characters well (see also St. Elmo’s Fire), and as the doped-up mother in mourning, she never strikes a wrong note. In the moments between Bon Jovi and Moore, screaming and shouting at first and then progressively rediscovering their love, Destination Anywhere rings absolutely true and is a compelling drama. I wish that Destination Anywhere had stayed on this course as a gritty, noirish drama, but because it is based on a musical album, Bon Jovi and director Mark Pellington (who has had a long career as a music video director) felt the need to turn this into a musical, and it is in these moments that the film falls apart. Because these tragic characters breaking out into song would have been too out of place, Pellington instead shoots the musical numbers as music videos, showing Bon Jovi walking lonely down the streets as songs from his album play. These moments are choreographed like a musical, with sets and dancers, but they are so out of place that they only kill the drama’s momentum and are therefore distracting. Because they feature little more than Jon walking down the streets of Manhattan, sulking and depressed, they also quickly grow monotonous. This is particularly true of the number in the dance club which features an intoxicated Jon dancing with some racy women performers. Why does this scene even exist? It adds nothing to the narrative, and it seems out of character for a man who is trying to reconcile with his wife. The inclusion of these musical numbers creates an unpleasant air over the film that screams, “Vanity Piece!” Too bad, because the drama between Moore and Bon Jovi generates real, sincere power. Besides the interaction between Bon Jovi and Moore, there were a few other aspects that I enjoyed. Familiar faces like Kevin Bacon, Whoopie Goldberg, and Annabella Sciorra show up for a few scenes, and they give the film some additional flavor without being too obligatory. I also enjoyed Pellington’s choice in lighting and cinematography, which create a hot, sultry Manhattan that contrasts strongly with the ice-cold, barren souls of the leads. Against all odds, the final musical number also works a little better than the others because it utilizes some interesting devices that advance the story instead of slowing it down. The ending, however, is an immense disappointment. It creates a twist in the story that I dare not give away, and just as the story begins to build, it ends abruptly. I’m not sure if this ending was supposed to be an uplifting, open-ended approach, but for me, it was like its breaks of the car came slamming to a rushed halt. After some powerful build-up between Bon Jovi and Moore, the ending is a cop-out: It increases the conflict and does not resolve any of the loose threads. Perhaps it was a mistake to adapt the album as a short film. It feels like a longer film with a missing ending: There is a final act here that isn’t told, and because I liked these characters so much, I felt cheated because I never know their final fate. So Destination Anywhere is a failure. So dark, gritty film-noir and the musical cannot mix, at least not with this approach. So the ending is a cop-out. Still, I would often rather watch a film which tries to experiment with something new and fail than a film which follows conventions flawlessly, and for this reason, I cannot help but applaud Jon Bon Jovi and Mark Pellington for trying something new. If I was to ever teach a class on the film musical, I would include a viewing of Destination Anywhere as a fresh but misguided approach to the genre. For the casual viewer, however, it is simply too muddled and unfocused to leave an impression. Cast: Mercury Records presents a
Blue Goose production. Directed by Mark Pellington. Written by
Stuart Cohn, Tom Gorai, and Pellington. Based on the album by
Jon Bon Jovi. No M.P.A.A. rating, but probably around PG-13 for
language, some sexual content at a dance club, and drug abuse.
Running time: 47 minutes. Year of release: 1997. Questions? Comments? E-mail me: danel_the_tinman@hotmail.com |
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