Samuel B.’s Tinseltown Blues is a pseudo-documentary portrait of a child of Hollywood. She’s the afterthought of a father with a movie career. She wants to be part of the world her father works in. Then maybe he’ll see her? Maybe he’ll respect her? Maybe he’ll love her?
Mackenzie Roe is Joanna. Joanna drinks, Joanna does drugs. Joanna is full to the brim with fear and loathing. Being the offspring of someone in the industry is a drag. There seems to be an invisible cloud of great expectations hovering above Joanna wherever she goes. She wants to break out. She wants to succeed. But there’s just one problem. Joanna can’t get past her worst enemy. Herself.
As the story progresses, our subject battles her addiction and depression at every turn. Trying to make positive steps forward, but following up with stupid steps back. Her father tries to lend her a hand, setting up gigs only for Joanna to knock them down with the weight of her own impetuous irresponsibility.
While she makes valiant attempts, the depths of the hurt she feels, going unseen, unheard, and unloved in a world where fame and recognition are all-encompassing, Joanna finds herself pushed to extremes, even for her. The result will become either the straw that finally breaks the camel’s back or the bridge that, if she stays on it, might just lead her to more hopeful pastures.
“Joanna drinks, Joanna does drugs.”
Tinseltown Blues suits the style in which Samuel B. has filmed it. There’s an unexpected intimacy created, adding authenticity to this fictional yet lived-in life. In an age dominated largely by consumer content, the concept of the camera as a confessional is immediate and effective. Mackenzie Roe gets better as the story progresses, really showing some fire when life resorts to a tug-of-war that she fights and fails against, no matter how hard she digs in her heels.
The pitfalls and the perils of the entertainment business are brutal, and Joanna struggles against balancing the hunger she has to succeed versus the appetite for destruction that has long kept her stuck where she is. The simplistic nature of the verité scenarios shows a character in search of identity and individuality. Unfortunately for our leading lady, the comfort she craves is absent, so she turns to drugs and drink to numb her senses and lessen the pain.
It’s still that same old story, a fight for love and glory. To see one’s face on a massive scream, greeted by the love and adoration of engaged audiences spanning the globe. Granted, the lure is potent. It draws in many. But gives its graces to a few. Tinseltown Blues is a harsh look at the reality of chasing dreams in a town where dream-chasers are everywhere. You’re only as good as your last picture. Only problem, how do you get in a picture when no one will put you in one?
Joanna knows she has to hustle. But when you need the love to preserve till perception becomes reality, and Tinseltown Blues illustrates the fates of those who have the heart, but lack the loving foundation needed, especially for those walking the high wire leading to fame and fortune. The only ones that last are those who are there with loved ones, to catch them when they fall.
"…a harsh look at the reality of chasing dreams in a town where dream-chasers are everywhere."
