LIVE BY NIGHT REVIEW

If you've read my blog before, you might remember the excitement when Ben Affleck chose our area for his movie LIVE BY NIGHT. We were overjoyed that a real, live movie star would be in our little town filming. My guy and I finally got to see it some weeks back, just before it left the theaters.

I am sad to say it was not good. Not that it was bad. It just wasn't good.

The story seemed fragmented and was hard to follow. I'd read the book by Dennis Lehane--which was engrossing--some years back, but I still had trouble following the movie. Basically, it was about a Boston gangster. He falls in love with his crime boss's daughter, gets beat up, is forced to flee to Florida, builds up his boss's crime empire there... Throw in the Ku Klux Klan, the sheriff's daughter, the black brother-sister Cubans who run the rum trade and...

Oh, my! It's so confusing. Too much is going on. It never really sucked me in.

However, I must say the setting is marvelous! Brunswick, Georgia standing in for Ybor City, Florida is absolutely amazing. The scenery, especially on a road twining through the marshes (which may be from our area?), is breathtaking. And I'm sure some of the local actors/actresses did a great job in their bit parts. Our area did indeed put its best foot forward.

So if you get a chance, see it. Just for the background.

MOVIE

As you may know, Ben Affleck chose our little mainland city as setting for scenes in his new movie based on the novel Live by Night by Dennis Lehane.

The whole county's been agog.

This is an old town. Most of the businesses have moved out to newer shopping centers and outer areas, leaving the core to fall into vacancy and disrepair. To their credit, some farsighted mayors and other people have been sprucing it up. If their efforts continue, they should succeed because the area has a lot to offer, including beautiful Victorian homes and nineteenth century buildings.

But the book's setting is Boston during the twenties. We scratched our heads? We're to stand in for Boston? Does Boston have palm trees? Will we have to disguise them as sugar maples?

Our fears were ungrounded. The movie people want us to look like Ybor City, Florida, where part of the story takes place.

Ybor City? Home of cigars and a blend of Latin cultures?  Okay, even if our area was the southernmost outpost for Anglo-Saxon settlement before the Revolution, we'll take our moment of fame however we can get it. Lucky we have lots of empty buildings and space for the filmmakers to work their magic. And a lot of actors who can impersonate Cubans. Just remember when you go to the theater that we're really not Ybor City. We aren't even in Florida!

 Now, some pix of the sets being built to turn us into...wherever.

This is the area of downtown they're working with. The road is blocked off and you can see a few of the old buildings they're putting new fronts on. Yes! They're actually making them look good!

This was once the old Bluebird Cafe.

The beige building is being worked on, getting ready for make-believe shutters and sign.

And this is an entirely new structure. The lot was empty, the business torn down years ago. So they're putting up the kind of building they want. Or at least the semblance of one.

I hope this set-building/touching-up helps people remember what downtown used to be like. If the movie stirs up interest in restoration, it will be well worth the trouble of rerouted traffic and noisy construction!

Hollywood, welcome to Brunswick!

NEWS AROUND THE COUNTY

Although we haven't had any interesting crimes lately, we do have other news. Like...

Jekyll Island is getting an ice skating rink!!!

"What?" you ask. "How can this be? Not only does it not snow on Jekyll, it seldom gets below freezing.

Synthetic ice is the answer. Evidently, they're setting up an artificial ice rink with a view of the ocean for tourists' -- and locals! -- enjoyment. We won't have to deal with the cold! We are so excited!

And today there was this headline:

Russian Spy Ship off GA Coast

"Really?" you say. "Are they looking for peaches or did they get lost?"

No, evidently they're spying on our submarine base where our latest, super duper submarines are housed. Maybe they have super duper spy equipment that will let them look through the walls and figure out blueprints or whatever. I have faith in our military, however. I'm sure we have any x-ray vision cameras blocked.

And finally this:

Film Crew Sets Up Shop Downtown

Yes! Confirmation of the rumors! Ben Affleck has indeed picked us for some of the scenes in the movie he's filming. This is more exciting than an ice skating rink and a Russian spy sub!

Evidently the film will be based on a Dennis Lehane novel set in Boston in the 1920s.

We do have some old buildings downtown that might work for a seedy Boston. Of course, I have no idea how the palm trees can be explained. Maybe they can crop them out.

Hey, that skating rink may come in handy!

Oh, and I bet that sub was lurking around hoping for a glimpse of a movie star!