Ok can we talk about The High Note (Dakota Johnson)

[SuperFreq]

Hated it. But it opened up some interesting thoughts, and there's one scene I love (see below). In a nutshell, the movie is a basic feel-good claptrap that slams the music industry, and who's not gonna clap for that trap? Dakota Johnson plays the personal assistant, glorified coffee-girl, for an aging Motown legend whose career is just beginning its decline.

The industry, personified by her manager Jack (Ice Cube, the best part of the movie if you get his angry humor) is making slick savvy decisions to ease her into a successful retirement with a lucrative Vegas residency. But Dakota Johnson thinks she can revitalize the woman's career by producing a new album using old school production techniques, keeping it real.

Along the way there are various cartoonish characters who represent the sterile, overproduced side of the industry. Here is one such scene, to me the highlight of the film, where a multi-Grammy winning producer does a horrible, overproduced remix of one song. This is where Dakota inserts herself into the conversation and plays her own mix that she did on her laptop at home, and of course it sounds better so she wins the argument. But the best part is right after that when Ice Cube chews her out in the hallway.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6FaQdA4myrM

If they had ended the movie with this unpeasant but true reality--that the industry doesn't need a coffee girl savior to turn up the vocals, because truth be told, the industry knows what it's doing--then I would've given this movie 10 stars for stark realism. Unfortunately the movie issues an about face and descends into the sappy predictable tropes you can guess are coming.

Whether you've seen this movie or not, what do you guys think? The question is: does a "good mix" alone make a Grammy winning success? Or does quality take a back seat to whatever fashionable trends the industry dictates?

Sadly, I go with option B. I think you can make the best mix on the planet, but what it comes down to is a big name producer and slick marketing deals--i.e. not the art--to make a success. In short, you can't fix the industry because, as a machine, it aint broken.

[Colin Nicholls]

 Thanks for bringing this movie to our attention; I hadn't heard of it until now.

[SuperFreq]

5 hours ago, Colin Nicholls said:

 Thanks for bringing this movie to our attention; I hadn't heard of it until now.

Awesome and don't let my reaction scare you off. I think it's worth watching just because there aren't many movies that attack subjects like this.

A lot of underdog-musician flicks focus on the musician's personal problem, but this presents a star who's already on top and facing what decisions to make from there. And I really do like that scene with Ice Cube, it was well done.

[57Gregy]

14 hours ago, SuperFreq said:

 And I really do like that scene with Ice Cube, it was well done.

It was cool.

Edited 8 hours ago by 57Gregy
Eliminated unfunny text.

[craigb]

Ok, can we talk about The Brown Note?  💩🤔

Wait... Never mind! 🤣