THE INCREDIBLE JESSICA JAMES

THE INCREDIBLE JESSICA JAMES is a wonderfully funny, socially aware comedy starring The Daily Show's Jessica Williams as a smart, funny playwright struggling to find professional success and love in contemporary New York. Written and directed by Jim Strouse (GRACE IS GONE), the movie has wit, courage and infectious optimism.  

Williams plays Jones as a confident, opinionated but never obnoxious young woman of talent and flair.  As the movie opens she's teaching kids theatre and helping them work out the issues in their lives while papering her wall with rejection letters for a play that she's writing.  She's also trying to get over her ex boyfriend (LaKeith Stanfield) while starting to date Chris O'Dowd's loveable but slightly banal app developer.  By the end of the film she's found fulfilment on both fronts, even though the ending places female friendship ahead of relationship success.

The bare bones of the plot sound quite simplistic - and indeed the stuff of many romantic comedies. And poor Chris Dowd effectively plays the loveable schlub that he always plays. But as with LANDLINE, the focus here is on the female friendships and in exploring familiar movie plotlines with greater authenticity, audacity and sexual honesty.  In all that, it's Jessica Williams who carries the day.  The result is a film that is hugely funny and heart-warming but that isn't a memorable classic. 

THE INCREDIBLE JESSICA JAMES has a running time of 85 minutes and is not yet rated.  It played Sundance and the San Francisco film festivals and does not yet have a release date. 

London Film Fest Day 11 - GRACE IS GONE

GRACE IS GONE is one of those quiet films that just steals up on you. It's a very simple story. Stanley is a decent guy. He has a wife, Grace and two young daughters, Heidi and Dawn, whom he loves dearly. He loves his country in a quiet way - not in the dumb, jingoistic manner often depicted in war films. Stanley cheated on his eye test so he could get into the army but was eventually discovered and kicked out. Which is partly why he feels so ashamed when his wife - an active soldier - is killed in Iraq. He can't bring himself to tell his daughters. In a desperate act of evasion he drives them to his mother's house, where they meet Stanley's brother, and then on to a theme park in Florida. The elder daughter, Heidi, is sensible and thoughtful and almost stumbles onto the truth. The younger daughter, Dawn, is wonderfully full of energy and fun, but she misses her mother and her home. Eventually Stanley breaks down and tells his daughters the truth.

The movie is affecting because the characters, situations and dialogue all ring true. In happier moments, the playful joshing between the two sisters is charming. In darker moments, Stanley's inability to deal with the situation also, tragically rings true. Credit goes to writer-director James C Strouse. I hated his earlier script for LONESOME JIM. I didn't empathise with any of the characters or situations in that film. I was never sold on why I should spend time with them. But GRACE IS GONE is completely different - warm, moving, never manipulative, tragically believable. I also think the three lead characters do a sterling job. It's wonderful to see John Cusack getting a chance to move beyond his slick charmer role with a very modulated, still performance. But the real stand out is Shelan O'Keefe as the elder daughter. Admittedly the tech package is nothing special but that's not the point with this film. Instead, in a period where we are daily bludgeoned with portentious movies about the war in Iraq, it's refreshing to see someone take the time to look at the real, fundamental impact on ordinary people.

GRACE IS GONE played Sundance 2007 where it won the Audience Award and the Screenplay Award. It also played Toronto and London 2007. It opens in the US on December 7th, in Spain on February 1st 2008 and in France in April 2008.

LONESOME JIM – Why oh why oh why oh why?

What is it with successful Hollywood actors and directors that they feel the need to go back to small towns and make deathly dull earnest movies of charming small town folk who look terrible, say nothing witty, do nothing of consequence and then die? We know life sucks. That is why we go to the movies. We want guns, fast cars, and hot chicks in Santa outfits. Enough with the white man’s version of keeping it real. Let’s keep it fake. That’s why God invested plastic.
You think I’m kidding? Lonesome Jim (Casey Affleck – and yes, he is related to Ben) is a 27 year old guy from Indiana who moved to New York and ended up walking dogs for a living. He comes home to have a nervous breakdown, is mean to his mum, ignores his dad (Seymour Cassel), depresses his elder brother so much he attempts suicide, improbably shags Liv Tyler (the chick who marries Aragorn in Lord of the Rings) and nearly messes that up too. Don’t get me wrong. All these people give great acting performances, but they have little to work with.
The movie is shot with a digital camera (the Panasonic AG-DVX100 for all you camera geeks) and the resulting print looks grainy and washed out. This is not (I think, I hope) a deliberately cultivated aesthetic. Some other random facts and assertions…..Apparently it cost $500,000 to make. I assume this is Taiwanese dollars not US dollars. LONESOME JIM was also nominated for the Grand Jury prize at Sundance back in January, but didn’t win. 40% of people who rated this on IMDB gave it ten out of ten. I am willing to bet that 100% of these people attended film school.

LONESOME JIM premiered at Sundance back in January 2005 but only goes on limited US release from 10th March 2006. There is currently no European release date, thank God. For once, I think the distributors have this down. Apart from some film geek gawpers who would turn up to see Buscemi sneeze, who is really going to shell out ten squid to see this?