Greetings from Tim Buckley is a fictionalization of the events around singer-songwriter Jeff Buckley’s appearance at an actual 1991 tribute concert for his father, Tim Buckley. (The movie’s title comes from the name of the concert.) The tribute concert was emotionally charged for Jeff Buckley because he had only met his father once before Tim’s death from a drug overdose. Jeff was not invited to Tim’s funeral, so he accepted the gig primarily to clarify and express his feelings for the father who had abandoned him, but whose career path he was following. The concert came as Jeff Buckley was just launching his career. Jeff Buckley himself accidentally drowned six years after the concert at the age of 30.
In the movie, Jeff (Penn Badgley) arrives in NYC for the concert, meets his father’s admirers and musical partners, passes the time hanging out with a concert intern (Imogen Poots) and then performs. Throughout the film, the audience observes Jeff while he is internally processing his own fascination with and resentment of his father. Unfortunately, the final scene imagines an encounter that lets Tim off the parenting hook to some degree.
Penn Badgley (Margin Call) has gotten critical praise for his singing. Indeed, one of the high points is when Badgley’s Jeff shows off to the girl by riffing on seemingly every album in a record store. Badgley may not have Jeff Buckley’s freakish four octave singing range, but his pipes are pretty impressive. I was more impressed by his characterization – it must be difficult to act miffed by one’s absent father and not lapse into whininess. Poots, so outstanding in Solitary Man and A Late Quartet, is good here, too.
Primarily a movie for music fans, Greetings from Tim Buckley is also a film for those who want to see an actor depict interior conflict with very little external action. Greetings from Tim Buckley is available on VOD from Amazon, iTunes, YouTube, Vudu, Google Play and other outlets.