Indie Rock sensation Adam (Luke Treadaway) and up-and-coming Punk Rock singer Morello (Natalia Tena) find themselves handcuffed together during Scotland’s T in the Park music festival shortly before both of them are scheduled to perform separate sets. Complications ensue.

CRITIQUE

Here’s what I wrote about this one in my May 2012 Theatrical Review:

“Adam (Luke Treadaway) is an Indie Rock star. Morello (Natalia Tena) is the front woman for an all-girl Punk Rock group trying to make a name for themselves. The two have nothing in common, run in completely different circles and don’t particularly care for one another, and considering they’re playing in completely different venues at a massive weekend outdoor music festival there’s no reason for them to meet let alone have a conversation.

But after a chance backstage encounter devolves into an argument, a strange Samaritan preaching peace, love and understanding handcuffs the two of them together and then wanders off into the throng of thousands. Now the two have to find a way to unshackle before each is supposed to perform, leaving them, their band mates and their significant others scratching their collective heads as to just what the best course of action actually is.

What happens next isn’t exactly a surprise, and at only 80 brief minutes it kind of goes without saying that director David Mackenzie’s (Perfect Sense, About Adam) latest Tonight You’re Mine is nothing more than a romantically inclined trifle that doesn’t push too many buttons or attempt to break all that many boundaries. Newcomer Thomas Leveritt’s script goes right where you expect it to and ends at the exact moment preordained at the very second Adam and Morello find themselves shackled together.

And I’m perfectly fine with all of that. Shot on the quick during Scotland’s famous T in the Park music festival and featuring a supporting cast of around 85,000 or so, the movie is filled with glorious bits of music and delectable touches of quiet romance that I found entrancing. I liked the way Adam and Morello dealt with their requisite significant others (nicely underplayed by Ruta Gedmintas and Alastair Mackenzie), the way they try to make the best of the situation before what’s going puts a spotlight on the cracks in each couple’s relationship. I liked the documentary-like nature of the narrative, how filming in a living, breathing environment shapes and molds the action making what is happening to the central couple all the more emotionally relevant.

The movie goes off the rails a time or two, a subplot involving Adam’s band mate and his manager feeling more like filler to pad out the running time than it does anything else. But overall I liked the way that Mackenzie meanders through T in the Park, the way he makes the festival an intricately evolving character that transforms along with the central duo over this chaotic, and cathartic, 24-hour period. The best bit might just be Morello singing her heart out while she and her band perform with Adam still chained to her arm, the priggish rock star taking things into an unexpected direction that makes the lot of them instant sensations. There are so many quiet moment, so many little vignettes, all of them adding together to create a melodious bit of bliss I didn’t want to see end.

So, yes, the finale is a bit silly and over the top, but much like Baby getting out of her corner or Maverick recovering from his crash and burn with Charlie there is something about the sight of Adam and Morello reuniting on the stage – and, no, this is not a spoiler in any way whatsoever – that couldn’t help but make me swoon in outright musical happiness. Tonight You’re Mine isn’t anything new, doesn’t break any ground or go any place that isn’t readily expected and, as I’ve already stated, that’s just fine. This movie is a song I didn’t want to end, its boisterous chorus one I could happily sing along to any day of the week.”

This is a strong little independent that just gets better and better the more I see it. The love story at the heart works incredibly well, the 85-minutes running time just perfect for Mackenzie’s self-contained handheld opus. See it.

THE VIDEO

Tonight You’re Mine is presented with a 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen transfer.

THE AUDIO

The DVD features English Dolby Digital 5.1 and includes optional English SDH subtitles.

THE EXTRAS

The extras are the usual assortments, including the better-than-average The Making of TONIGHT YOU’RE MINE featurette and a more than decent Interview with Luke Treadaway and Natalia Tena. Rounding things out are featurettes on Costume Design and another entitled “The Make – Behind the Music” which, considering the scope and breadth of the actual music played during almost every single minute of the film, should be a heck of a lot better than it actually is.

FINAL THOUGHTS