‘Martha Marcy May Marlene’ John Hawkes sings ‘Marcy’s Song’
One of the most stirring moments in writer-director Sean Durkin's new movie, Martha Marcy May Marlene, comes when a cult leader played by Academy Award-nominated actor John Hawkes sings a gentle love song to Martha (Elizabeth Olsen). Durkin discovered the song, written by obscure mid-Sixties folk singer Jackson Frank, when he was casting about for songs that include the names of characters in his film and found Frank's record, which also features a tune called "Marlene." In this video, Hawkes performs the number in a studio, delivering the song's creepy lyrics with a fragile intensity and the sort of magnetic charisma you'd expect from a cult leader.
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