– The Five Heartbeats –
Honorable Mentions: Hook, My Girl, The Rocketeer
The Five Heartbeats is part passion project, part semi-autobiographical and part musical. Inspired by the careers of The Dells, Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, and The Temptations, the movie tells the story of 5 friends and their rise to stardom. With a slight genre difference, it reminds me of That Thing You Do.
As a musician, I really like how the movie never jumps too far over the line to feel like a conventional musical, but that it dips its toes in the genre while hitting all the emotional tones as we see what the price of fame costs, whether it be a disastrous headlining concert, crooked label heads, racism, drugs, or even feuds with each other.
This movie means much to me because it’s hits all the right notes: A cast of (mostly) unknowns who can act the crap out of their roles, catchy music and heart that makes you care about every person in the movie.
ICONIC LYRIC:
No matter how hard it gets
we haven’t finished yet
there’s so much of life ahead
we got so much to do
No matter how hard we try
We just can’t say goodbye
Don’t leave me with regrets
cause we haven’t finished yet
Mood for a Movie 