document: The Music Never Stopped A family bonds to the rhythms of classic-rock You know those dads who are such music freaks that they teach their children everything about Dylan , say , or the Ramones , and then flip out when the kids go over to Ke $ ha ? Sure you do . -LRB- Me , I just look in the mirror . -RRB- `` The Music Never Stopped '' is about how one of those dads gets his comeuppance and realizes how lucky he is . Fictionalized from an actual medical case written about by neurologist Oliver Sacks in his early - '90s essay `` The Last Hippie , '' the movie is a drably directed yet terrifically affecting drama about family bonds , classic rock , and the human brain . It 's sentimental , yet so honest and eccentric that it rises above schmaltz . The reliable character actor J.K. Simmons -LRB- `` Juno '' -RRB- tamps his energy down for a rare lead role as Henry Sawyer , a mechanical engineer who , when the film opens in 1986 , is nearing retirement and stuck in a rut . Henry is a fusspot and a fanatic for the music of the pre-rock era -- the big bands , the show tunes -- and he has never forgiven his only child , Gabriel -LRB- Lou Taylor Pucci -RRB- , for rebelling with Jimi and the Stones and Gabriel 's beloved Grateful Dead . Gone for 20 years , the prodigal son turns up in the hospital , his brain gutted by an enormous tumor . It 's removed and the prognosis is good , except that Gabriel can no longer form short-term memories . For him , the year is still 1970 , that rat Nixon is still in office , and Dad remains the Man . Initially catatonic , Gabriel comes to life whenever music is played . To the delight of his therapist , Dianne -LRB- Julia Ormond -RRB- , and the chagrin of his father , he responds tepidly to Bing Crosby yet ecstatically to the Beatles , to Cream , to the Dead 's `` Uncle John 's Band . '' It 's here that `` The Music Never Stopped '' ceases to be a curiously glum tale of intergenerational strife and turns into something strange and new . The only way for Henry to help Gabriel find himself -- the only way he can be with his son -- is to become a classic-rock junkie . This is a sight to see , warming and often hilarious , and I 'm betting that Simmons read the script and thought of Richard Jenkins 's character in `` The Visitor , '' another frozen soul thawed by polyrhythms . The four corners of `` The Music Never Stopped '' are exquisitely acted , with Simmons gradually letting Henry 's freak flag fly , Pucci conveying the encyclopedic rock junkie inside the lost boy , Ormond showing the joy in professionalism , and Cara Seymour as Henry 's wife , Helen , gathering strength as her character finally becomes her own person . A really good director might have created a classic out of this . Jim Kohlberg , a producer -LRB- `` Two Family House '' -RRB- making his behind-the-camera debut , moves the narrative along effectively but with zero visual style , and the hair and makeup in the flashback scenes are a disaster . He knows enough to get out of the story 's way , at least , and he 's very lucky to have a music supervisor , Susan Jacobs , who gets the right songs for the right scenes . -LRB- The bit where Gabriel explains `` Desolation Row '' to his father is a giddy highlight . -RRB- Not surprisingly , the prevailing vibe of `` The Music Never Stopped '' is set by `` Ripple , '' `` Truckin ' , '' and other mellow , forgiving Grateful Dead warhorses . -LRB- The band 's Mickey Hart has been involved with this story from the very beginning . -RRB- That may draw you in or send you running for the hills . Whatever your musical tastes , though , the film 's a charmer with unexpected things to say about fathers and sons , the back roads of the brain , and the peculiar music fanaticism of so many otherwise mature men . It 's one to remember . Ty Burr can be reached at tburr @ globe.com , or followed at www.twitter.com/tyburr .
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