FILM REVIEW: The Lost Song

Review by Barnaby Walter

This debut feature from Holby City director Julie Ann Robinson is both undeniably predictable and extremely enjoyable. Miley Cyrus, usually all-teeth no-talent, gives a surprisingly affecting performance of rebellious teen Ronnie who has been sent to spend the summer with her dad (Greg Kenner) by the beach. She was once a talented pianist, set for great things, but apparently spends he time in New York shoplifting and making her mother’s life hell. Her parents are divorced, so this summer away from home may give her a chance to reconnect with her father; the one who inspired her love for music.

As she is accompanied by her loud-voiced little brother, she doesn’t find much peace and quiet in her dad’s beach house to curl up and read Anna Karenina in a sulky way. She plods along beaches and fairgrounds, looking sullen and unimpressed. She doesn’t even look twice at the gorgeous hunk who collides into her one sunny day, splashing her milkshake all over her top. He offers to pay for a new top, but she sneers her way out of the conversation, pushing him back before he even has a chance to get her name. He, of course, forms to basis of the romantic core of the film. This vision of a guy, who doesn’t seem to own a shirt, is Neighbours actor Liam Hemsworth, who dons a believable American accent while he attempts to woo our heroine; at the beach, then later as an Aquarium assistant sent out to protect some Turtle eggs. She falls for him, of course, and starts to morph into sweet happy Ronnie and away from the cold, grumpy one that’s dominated the first part of the film.

Based on a generic Nicholas Sparks novel, this type of schmaltzy romantic fare is the type of thing that repulses the more serious film critics. It’s derivative, predictable and takes itself very seriously (although there are some welcome comic moments). But it doesn’t care, and delightfully lets go of all self-consciousness and does what it wants to: tell an emotional, beautifully shot coming-of-age story that improves largely on Sparks’s limp prose. A pat on the back also goes to Disney for employing the talented Julie Ann Robinson to direct. She’s been doing awful British soaps for far too long, and this has given her the chance to display a cinematic talent that would have been unable to flourish if restricted to the small screen.

The Last Song is in cinemas now from Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures UK. A Blu-ray and DVD release is planned for Autumn 2010.