Dandelion

It’s one thing for a movie to have a good soundtrack. It’s even better if the filmmakers know something about how music is made.

One of the many delights of Nicole Riegel’s Dandelion is that the writer-director presents seemingly mundane but not-necessarily boring struggles than singer-songwriters like her title character (KiKi Layne, If Beale Street Could Talk) face. She has to restring and tune her guitar, perform in bars where the patrons find their own idle conversations are more involving than heartfelt tunes and struggle with a click track. 

There are countless movies about troubadours trying to make a career out of their songs, but Dandelion is exceptional because it gets both the technical and emotional details right. 

In addition, Layne’s soaring voice helps make Theresa, a.k.a. Dandelion’s struggle, feel worthwhile and involved. Her own songs are solid, and her cover of Gin Blossoms’ “Hey Jealousy” has a slower tempo but has all the conviction and power of the original.

Like too many people before her, Dandelion cannot rely solely on talent. Just ask the late Sixto Rodriguez. 

Cincinnati, Layne’s real-life hometown, is short of venues that pay her a living wage or operate a sound system that drowns out the aforementioned tediously chatty patrons. Her mother (Melanie Nicholls-King) has a pulmonary disease that requires her to use an oxygen tank, but Mom refuses to give up her cigarettes or encourage Dandelion’s ambitions.

“…scrambling to pay to keep her mother alive even though her own job pays starvation wages.”

In fact, Dandelion is scrambling to pay to keep her mother alive even though her own job pays starvation wages.

As sort of a Hail Mary, Dandelion takes a gig at a biker gathering in South Dakota that goes just about as badly as the ones in Cincinnati. Just when Murphy’s Law seems to have had its way with her, she meets a hunky Scotsman named Casey (Thomas Doherty). He’s led a successful band but dropped off the scene for vague reasons. After providing her with some car help, it turns out he and she can write solid tunes together. Their harmonies also give the band a newfound depth.

He has mentioned that he’s married, but it’s not not that big a deal. With the great sounds and the romantic vibes, maybe it isn’t.

It’s easy to see why she’s ignoring the warning signs, but Riegel, who also helmed Holler, drops plenty of hints that there is more to these characters than is initially apparent. Even Dandelion’s mom is more than an obnoxious ingrate. When Dandelion is on her way to making a regrettable decision, her missteps are logical. They are less idiot plot and more reasonable but misguided plot.

Riegel also gets some help from cinematographer Lauren Guiteras, who makes both Cincinnati and the Black Hills look gorgeous and otherworldly inspiring. You can see how the ideas get into Dandelion’s head even if she can’t pay all the rent yet.

I’d love to hear Doherty and Layne harmonize again, but I’m simply content that the movie they starred in wasn’t made to simply sell a soundtrack.