Elijah Peel follows a stadium-filling rock star whose life of fame and addiction comes to a sudden halt after a heart attack nearly costs him everything.
Elijah Peel is a rock star who has reached the lowest point of his life; having been worn out by the decisions that led him there, he appears to have lost any belief in his capacity for change. He then meets Jessica, a young girl suffering from cancer who ends up challenging the way he views himself. The film shows this unexpected friendship without suggesting that a new beginning will be easy.
The situation will seem familiar to anybody who has come across a story concerning an adult in difficulty whose life is transformed by a cheerful child. The movie adopts this kind of setup and its direction is seldom unexpected. What gives the film its effectiveness is the relationship which lies at its heart. Elijah and Jessica aren’t impressive because they provide one another with simple solutions. Rather, they are impressive since, in the scenes that they share, both of them feel a bit less lonely.
Robert Malcolm Cumming gives Elijah some rough qualities which make his broken state believable. He does not depict the character as one who can be cured by one conversation or by a sudden change of heart. The way he performs the role shows a sense of weariness, yet also indicates that Elijah has not completely abandoned hope in himself. It is therefore easier to accept Elijah’s slow transformation, even though the circumstances surrounding him follow a predictable course.
Evelyn Grace Kite forms the movie’s emotional core. In the part of Jessica, she adds warmth and personality to a role which might otherwise have been known only for her illness. She is interesting in her own right, and it is her performance that determines the film’s tone—kind but not excessively serious. The way she talks to Cumming is truly endearing and gives their friendship a lightness which makes its more emotional scenes stand out.
The performances are not equally confident in every scene. A number of the lines seem to have been written with the aim of conveying the movie’s message rather than arising naturally from the characters, and the portrayal sometimes seeks emotion more forcefully than is necessary. It is also hard to ignore the usual scenario of a world-weary rock musician finding a purpose through a sick child. There are moments when you can tell that the story is trying to make you feel moved before the situation has actually deserved it.
Yet “Elijah Peel” has a kind and generous nature. In its finest moments, it relies on the actors, particularly Kite, to convey the mood without having to state it explicitly. There is also a message embedded within the familiar storyline which strikes home with true warmth: reaching rock bottom does not mean that you are beyond grace or that the person you have been must be the person you continue to be.
“Elijah Peel” is not subtle and sometimes fails to find a new way of telling its story. However, Cumming and Kite manage to make the main friendship worth caring about. For those who are willing to accept it on its own terms, it is a sincere and touching film concerning the possibility of starting again.
Now available on DVD
