Ruby's Bucket of Blood (2001)

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I really enjoyed the movie although I wish some of the plotline was a little more developed or detailed. However, what really got me was the music. It was incredible. I am hoping they come out with a CD of the actual music used in the movie. Kevin Anderson's voice was incredible. I was blown away.

I love a movie like this that has no boring scenes. I think Kevin Anderson is highly underrated as an actor and I expect to see him soar soon. He struck my attention just as Russell Crowe did in "the Quick and the Dead"

As with "O Brother, Where Art Thou," the music in this film is a major reason to watch it--if you like The Blues, that is. In fact, the first half of the film is mostly filled with terrific performances of blues music (with dashes of jazz and cajun.) In 1961, in a Louisiana backwater, Billy Dupree, a white singer (played by Broadway's Kevin Anderson) lands a gig at Ruby's joint, whose clientele is black, when she suddenly needs a replacement act. Angela Bassett is Ruby, one tough cookie, who inexplicably doesn't realize her own sexy beauty. Her philandering fool of a husband walks out on her early on. Of course, Billy proves himself as a blues belter and romance blooms between the two singers, despite the interracial barrier, and despite Billy also being married--to a woman with mental problems. There are sub-plots, one involving Ruby's teen-aged daughter, and one about two of the black band members who are gay. (One wants to leave for New Orleans to find fame while the other is content where he is.) But this is mainly a love story. Despite a somewhat predictable plot and some credibility lapses (given the severe black anti-gay prejudice today, would the two musicians be so open about their attraction 40 years ago?) this is an engrossing film--well acted and directed--that will appeal to blues fans.

This movie appeared, at first, to be something that would turn out to be more interesting than it was. Taking place in the '50's in Louisiana, it sold out far too frequently to the expectations today's audience. The music was not authentic for its time, and there was way too much of it. The dialog was stilted---everyone speaking acting-school English, and the efforts by some actors to mix English with Cajun-French was very self-conscious. There was just no natural flow to the language. A few of the actors were very well-cast and captured the spirit of the thing, and the sets and scenery were pretty good. Having lived in Louisiana in the 50's, I actually relived the scent of the place a few times, but such reveries were infrequent. I didn't stay around for the whole thing, so the plot may have redeemed something by the end, but as I tuned out to watch a higher priority on cable), "Ruby" was just revealing itself as another of those films about homosexuality, and I have no idea how far that went. If you're an old car buff, though, there were some nice DeSotos and Hudsons and Packards. With authentic Louisiana license plates from 1956.