Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Movie!
Review: This movie is worth buying. The music is so moving and the story is very interesting. I bought this on DVD and had no problems with mine. The earlier reviews made me somewhat nervous about buying a DVD, but I've experienced no problems with mine. Thank goodness, because this is a beautiful movie.
Rating: 
Summary: Great way to spend a couple of hours.
Review: This was one of those movies on cable that I had never seen and it really caught my attention one afternoon. I spent the greater part of my youth in East Tennessee and Western North Carolina and have yet to find a place more special. So I also enjoy a movie set in this part of our great country. Fans of East Tennessee State University will also be pleased to find the school listed in the end credits.
I especially loved the scene as our musicologist flees down the mountain in the dark from an imagined(?) mountain lion. Great scene!
It's a great little movie that entertains.
Rating: 
Summary: Warning
Review: I ended up not watching the film past the first minute or so because it is not a letterboxed presentation, as it should be; instead, the film squeezes to full-frame if you do not have a 16x9 television. This creates and off-kilter, headache inducing experience. I was not able to make any adjustment to my TV or my player that would do any good.
Lions Gate should recall the disc and repress it so it can be watched on either type of television.
Rating:
Summary: Read This Before Buying!
Review: So far I have ordered - and returned - three of these DVDs. They were all defective 34 minutes into the film. They would black out and then lock up the player so that it had to be turned off manually. I contacted the IFC - who were very helpful - and they put me in touch with Lions Gate Films. They were rude and simply blew me off and could not have cared less. The Amazon folks were very helpful but could not supply me with a viable copy.
Too bad. It is a great film that captures the feel, the people, and the music of appalachia. I was born there and this film is right on the mark.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasantly surprised!
Review: I wasn't really expecting much when I first rented this movie because I had never even heard of it, but boy! was I surprised! I absolutely loved it! Bluegrass music doesn't really do much for me, but I wouldn't really call this bluegrass. The songs and music are more earthy and emotional. The characters are so down to earth and real. I loved these people--I wanted to go to the mountains and find people and music like this. I got on the internet and bought a copy of the movie and the soundtrack. I have watched this movie more than any other movie that I own.
Rating: 
Summary: Dr. Quinn, Music Woman
Review: OK, so maybe it's not THAT bad. Still, I was so disappointed by the second half of this film that I can't find a four-star rating in me.It's a gorgeous film set in the Appalachian Mountains, an early 20th century story of a highly intelligent lady musicologist who is obsessed with capturing the history of the folk music of the British Isles. When she hits the glass ceiling of her day, her college passing her over yet again for a man in spite of her extreme qualification, she heads for the hills. Literally. Her younger sister runs a school in the mountains among that most derided minority, the hillbillies (or, more properly, "mountain folk"). Big kudos to this film for playing more or less fair with the poor people of the mountains, with few caricatures and mostly just good-hearted people who distrust "the world beyond." Here the good doctor finds a wealth of old British folk music that has been handed down from generation to generation, as the ancestors of these folk came from the islands themselves. "Songcatcher" is well worth seeing, due to its brilliant handling of its unique subject matter. It is also a cautionary tale for filmmakers who think they have to throw too much into their story. It could be said that the multiple tragedies in this film are a way of thematically representing the repetitive theme of tragedies in the old folk music the doctor is collecting, but it's overkill, pure and simple, and further ruins such effect with a silly ending. I'm glad I saw it, but would prefer to have an edited version featuring only the musical performances, which are stunning. There is a lot to love about "Songcatcher." It's a treasure trove for an education in how music was developed in those pre-commercial days, and the lengths to which its devotees had to go for its preservation. If you love any kind of music, you owe a big debt of gratitude to people like this. It is mesmerizing to see the mountain people performing the music of their heritage in its natural setting. Beyond that, it's a typical formula story, and that's what leaves me cold about this confused film. Formula element 1: The Outsider who learns to communicate with and appreciate a society in which she is initially very uncomfortable, while said society learns to deal with her as well. Some will not accept her, but she wins most of them over. Formula element 2: A forbidden romance causes serious unrest and, ultimately, tragedy. There are actually two such story lines in this film. Formula element 3: An ambitious woman, living in less rational times, deals with the frustration of being thwarted in her dreams. Formula element 4: The happy ending you could see coming a mile off. I really hate that the filmmakers felt they had to throw so many elements into what could have been an excellent little film. Most unsettling is that they set up several confrontations that all reach a climax within a minute or two of each other, completely fouling up the otherwise nice pace they had set to that point in the film's final half-hour.
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