The 27 Club ( *** )

85 Minutes

Official Selection, Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival

Like Jimi Hendrix, Jim Morrison and Kurt Cobain, before him, Tom of the fictional rock band Finn joins the ranks of "The 27 Club", a new drama written and directed by Erica Dunton. "The 27 Club" is a phrase used for the group of influential rock musicians who all died at the same age of 27.

The film centers around Elliot (Joe Anderson), the surviving member of the duo whose relationship with the late singer dates back as early as childhood. Upon losing his best friend, the gaunt, disheartened singer pays a grocery clerk, Three Words (David Emrich), ,000 to drive him to his hometown of Joplin, Missouri and then to New York where Tom's funeral is behind held. Along the way, they meet a beautiful hitchhiker and Finn fan Stella (Eve Hewson) and the rest is a road trip to recovery from grief, loss and faithlessness.

While it could have left viewers thinking rock stars are inherently tragic cases, a few flashbacks help round out the characterizations and give some background to help understand the cause for these two characters in their spiral downward. The night-day dynamic between Anderson and his chauffer Emrich makes for an interesting juxtaposition, but you leave feeling like you know nothing about Emrich's character, dubbed Three Words by Stella. When Hewson, real-life daughter of U2's Bono, shows up, it doesn't shake things up too much but she's likeable and gives the film some quiet charm.

But writer/director Erica Dunton's strength is in the imagery, especially the beautifully haunting scene where Elliot stands in front of the post-it filled mirror left by Tom before his death. While the last quarter of the film falters a bit with some scenes that ring false, the movie has packed enough of an emotional punch thanks to some skillful direction, rich cinematography, and Anderson's solid portrayal of a grief-stricken tortured soul.