Lonesome Jim
Picture:
C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C+
Casey
Affleck is trying to place himself in a position of begin the next serious
actor and keeps taking at least interesting roles in films like Steve Buscemi’s
Lonesome Jim, playing the title
character coming back home at age 30 to reflect on his life and see where he is
going next. There is the awkward family
(Seymour Cassell & Mary Kay Place as the parents, Kevin Corrigan as the
brother) that tells us about how he may not have landed up as successful or
together as he could have. Then he falls
for a sexy, nice young woman (Liv Tyler) who seems to like him, but can it work
out?
The
problem with this film, as well acted, decently directed and smart-enough as it
is is that it offers the problematic dichotomy that in order for a man (or
woman, but man here) to have a complete life, he has to either have had a good
family or build a new one. Otherwise, he
is lost. That is a lie. The film, even down to its promotion, decries
this as “life changing” and “moody” in a way that says people fail because they
do not give deep, serious through to their lives and need this simple film to
break the monotony. So many films have
done this kind of thing better and with more of an existential edge (Bob
Rafelson’s great Five Easy Pieces
comes to mind) or adult honesty.
That
brings us to another problem, which is a slight infantilism that works like an
idiot plot, as if Jim just woke up at age 30.
A few films have pulled this recently and it just does not always ring
true. The creators might say some of
that is the point, but that argument does not gel either. This film is never pretentious, moving along
nicely, but instead of getting muddy or choppy, just stretches out over its 91
minutes in a way that makes you feel more could have happened or been
addressed. The overall result is no
disaster, a missed opportunity and maybe even a transition for all involved
into something more interesting. Only
time will tell.
The
anamorphically enhanced 1.78 X 1 image is slightly noisy throughout shot on
non-HD video and though careful work has been done to transfer the material
nicely, it just does not look that good.
Phil Parmet should be commended for shooting this like a film and not a
video, though the shaky camerawork is a major shortcoming that continues to be
a tired hallmark of all cinema these days.
The Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo is dialogue-based, good for an indie
production and has no surrounds. Extras
include previews for other Genius/Weinstein releases, making-of featurette and
audio commentary by Buscemi and writer James C. Strouse. The project is still done sincerely,
intelligence and some ambition. Hope to
see their next collaboration.
- Nicholas Sheffo
