Lonesome Jim
Steve Buscemi is one of everyone’s favorite actors. With his third outing as a feature director he’s showing the indie crowd that he as the chops to possibly be one of their favorite directors. Tree’s Lounge came out to much deserved acclaim, even if Animal Farm is severely underrated and some would say he’s directed some of the better episodes of The Sopranos. Lonesome Jim is a great addition to Buscemi’s resume.
After pretty much failing on his own Jim (Casey Affleck) has come crawling back to his parent’s home defeated and cripplingly depressed. His arrival and general attitude puts a course of events into motion that has his brother Tim (Kevin Corrigan) attempting suicide, Jim coaching a girls pee wee basket ball team that has never scored a point and their mother (Mary Kay Place) arrested by the FBI. This entire film is full of people who are one bad day away from locking themselves in a garage with the car running. That is, everyone other than Anika (Liv Tyler). Her genuine joy at being alive is the one bright spot in any of these people’s lives. Granted, it may not be a true lust for life rather than just a general appreciation for living.
One of the things this film has going for it is its cast. It’s a shame that Casey Affleck is best known for his older brother, because he really has some talent. Here he is able to mix lying on the floor depressed with unbelievably dry humor. Corrigan is also great as a divorced father of two who is just holding on to whatever he can find to bring himself a little bit of happiness. As Jim’s mother, who basically lives her whole life behind this brittle mask of emotions that threatens to crack at any moment, Mary Kay Place is brilliant. Meanwhile, Tyler’s portrayal of Anika has to be applauded. In any other film she would be some overly joyous, sickly sweet caricature. Here, she’s not some wanna-be Patch Adams who’s out to heal the world, she’s just a genuinely nice person, who cares about her fellow man.
The other thing that really makes this film work is the humor. When you have such a somber cast of characters living in a run down factory town, you’d never expect there to be any way it could be funny, but that’s the genius of it. The whole tone makes every joke cut like a knife and really stand out. It also allows characters to say things that are so brutally honest that they pass cruel and come back around to funny.
The only real problem I had is that it’s almost too indie. Yeah, yeah I know that’s not a hip thing to say, but it’s true. At times Jim’s moping around can come of as a bit too self-aware and contrived, although not to an annoying degree. I give this film a bit of a pass and much respect, because I realize it was shot on the thinnest of budgets, so half of the “indie feel” isn’t about “feel,” but is due to actual necessity. That is sort of a novel concept these days.
I can’t say this film will appeal to everyone, because it won’t. If you’re a big fan of Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector, you should probably skip this one. However, if you like to laugh at the misery of life, then this is the film for you.
The Grade
- Story: B-
- Acting: B
- Visuals: B-
- Originality: B
- Enjoyability: B
Overall: B
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