Top of the Otts in Film: #7 Almost Famous

7. Almost Famous

Jimmy Ruffin almost famously asked the question, “What becomes of the brokenhearted?” Most love tragedies, after all, end at the moment of the heartbreaking. Almost Famous, then, asks the question, when posed about the fans of Rock and Roll – what happens to the rock fan after rock stopped being great and important. And then of course…what happened to rock and roll? It is fortunate that MTV came along to systematically kill rock somewhat after Almost Famous is set, so we can really live with the aftermath instead of having an archetype villain. MTV’s tragedy, of killing what it loved, can be told elsewhere. Hidden within all of this is another sophisticated discussion about journalism – the sinister, manipulative role the objective commentator necessarily plays, the lurking danger of fandom. But that is a sideshow to a love poem to the lost glory of the 60’s which manages to be at turns funny and touching. Plus the criminally underused Frances McDormand.