Dandelion Movie Review

Featuring Music by Bryce and Aaron Dessner of ‘THE NATIONAL’

Performed by KiKi Layne, Thomas Doherty, and Brother Elsey

Dandelion (KiKi Layne) is a struggling singer-songwriter in a downward spiral. She plays gigs in a Cincinnati bar, hoping someone will take notice. At the opening of the film, she’s stringing her guitar and with how she’s doing it, you can see it’s done with passion and love of the craft. She gets on stage and covers “Hey Jealousy” by the Gin Blossoms, a personal favorite of mine. The audience isn’t impressed. Neither am I, but that’s the point of her singing the nineties hit. Her voice is beautiful, but the song isn’t hers.

Writer/Director Nicole Riegel (Holler) focuses on the fact that, though she’s there to entertain, the people in the bar aren’t necessarily there to be entertained. They’re there to get on their phones and talk to one another across the table, eating and drinking. Her voice is the background white noise they use to fall asleep. What’s the saying, “Never lay your pearls before swine?” She packs up and leaves.

From a friend, she hears of a festival in South Dakota. It’s part of Bike Week, but she’s a performer, and what better place to test her abilities to catch an audience than an audience who probably has never heard her style of music before? Immediately, Dandelion meets Casey, played by Thomas Doherty from “Gossip Girl,” a guitarist who was with a group called Brother Elsey. They’re a real band that plays their song “Dreamer” in the film. It’s quite good. Casey is a bit flighty and has left the band, only to show up on occasion at gigs where they perform to wet his palate. They don’t all appreciate this, but it’s nice to see him, friend or foe.

She and Casey are given the typical meet-cute, and it’s off to the races. Once this happens, the movie slows down to a crawl, and you find yourself looking at your watch two times too much. They hike and kiss amongst nature. All of this is beautifully shot by Lauren Guiteras. Her work is the most impressive thing about the film. I looked forward to every transition to see what she had for me next. The locations are magnificent, and the scenery chosen is spectacular, which makes this film more of a vision than it is. Lauren puts the characters in a position that enhances the overall look of the moment.

There’s a typical narrative of romance and artistic journey at play here. The amour portion of the tale is a bore as it doesn’t really offer anything new. Had Riegel stuck with the pursuit of music storyline, I think she would have had a hit here, but even there she was going for too much, too soon.

After her travels, Dandelion returns home to where she lives with her ailing mother. Her mother, who she usually dismisses, knows more about life than her Dandelion ever gave her credit for. Now it’s time she takes the lessons she just learned and make something of herself.

Note. The last song our troubadour sings, at the very end of the film, is one she has written herself and moments of her trip into the real-world flow through her veins and out through her voice exquisitely. The song is one you won’t soon forget.

Find “Dandelion” in the Phoenix area at these theaters: