This best sums up the tautly moving love story, “Elvis and Annabelle.”
Elvis (Max Minghella) is a lonely boy, shut off from the world, whose love for his ailing mortician father (Joe Mantegna) keeps him from following his dreams of being a writer, instead training to take over the family business.
Annabelle (Blake Lively) is on the road to winning the Miss Texas Rose tiara – which her pushy mother (Mary Steenburgen) so desperately wants her to win – when she dies unexpectedly during the pageant.
In a twist of fate, Annabelle, and Elvis, find themselves face to face, except she is dead. Together, and with the aid of Elvis’ adorable father, they help each other discover what exactly they want out of life.
Through their romance Elvis discovers he wants to chase his dreams of being a writer and Annabelle realizes she doesn’t want the life of a beauty queen that her mother has forced onto her.
Will Geiger wrote and directed the touching film that was shot entirely in Texas, including scenes shot at the Paramount Theatre, where the film premiered at SXSW. “Elvis and Annabelle” seems to pride itself on not being a typical love story and pushing the theme of tragedy turned miracle.
The whirlwind, fairy-tale romance between Elvis and Annabelle was an effective distraction from the could-never-happen-in-a-million-years storyline of Annabelle’s death and following resuscitation from Elvis’ kiss.
Geiger’s well-paced film boasted superb performances from a suave Minghella and a cute-as-a-button Lively as the young couple in love. Movie-goers will fall in love with the loveable Mantegena as Elvis’ eccentric father who has all the hope for his disillusioned son.
Gerrick Lewis can be reached at [email protected].
