BEFORE: Mark Duplass carries over from "Duck Butter", where he played a fictionalized version of himself. And the Mark Duplass section of the chain is very helpful for making a dent in my Netflix list, all three of his romance-based films can be found there.
Believe it or not, after today I'm only halfway through this year's romance chain - Valentine's Day is in the rear-view, but I've still got 20 more films about love and relationships before I get off this topic for the year - we're going into overtime, until mid-March. This worked out well for me the last two years and led to perfect year-long chains, so I'm going to stick with what works.
THE PLOT: Meeting by chance when they return to their tiny California hometown, two former high-school sweethearts reflect on their shared past.
AFTER: It's a simple little film, this one. Just two former lovers bumping in to each other, and then re-connecting, or at least coming close to it. From the title I think it sounded like some period piece or costumed drama, but no, it's a modern-set film, "Blue Jay" is just the name of the diner in town where these two former lovers drink some terrible coffee. And his name is Jim, not Jay, so even if he's "blue" or sad, that's not relevant to the meaning of the title.
Also, is this "mumblecore"? I'm never sure. Wikipedia says that Mark Duplass is part of the mumblecore movement, but I never know what to look for. I keep thinking that I'm going to recognize mumblecore when I see it, and I never do. Independent films that are largely improvised tend to qualify, so I'm going to call this one mumblecore, just because that makes me feel like I'm getting somewhere, closer to maybe understanding the genre. Ah, there's a list of mumblecore films on Wikipedia, and this one is ON THE LIST! The other ones that I've seen are "Cyrus", "Frances Ha", "Save the Date", "Celeste & Jesse Forever", "Drinking Buddies", "The Overnight" Man, I've come so far but there's still a LONG way to go - I've never watched "Humpday" or "Tiny Furniture" or "Jeff, Who Lives at Home", and the only mumblecore film currently on my list is "The Do-Deca-Pentathlon". Then there's mumble-GORE, which is a whole different genre that I don't think I'm even interested in at all...
Anyway, Amanda and Jim bump into each other in a grocery store in their hometown, she's there because her sister is pregnant and close to giving birth, and he's there because his mother passed away a couple months ago, he's fixing up the house he grew up in, he may sell it, or not. They spend an evening together, relive the old times, good and bad, we learn more about them now and what happened back then. That's about it, but on some level, that's enough, it kind of has to be, right? No complicated arrangements, no Jane Austen books, no intersecting character arcs where we have to determine what's real and what isn't. No incidents that have implications that reverberate on another continent decades later, just two people meeting up again and talking about old times. Boring by comparison, perhaps, but also refreshing in its own way.
They buy beers from several countries, they eat jelly beans, and Jim saves Amanda the pink and purple ones. They listen to old audio tapes they made, where they pretended to be an older married couple with two adult kids. They find old love letters, try on old clothes, and dance to music from the early 90's. They get close again, but then they also have to re-live the old pain and trauma again. Proving that you can go back again, but also really, you can't go back again. The future is left open, perhaps it's up to the viewer what happens next - which usually I hate, but just maybe there was no other way to end this one.
This is the kind of film that streaming was designed for, though - it made just $21,000 in general release, which is kind of pathetic. At least on Netflix there's a better chance that people might actually watch it. I think it's worth a look, and with an 80-minute running time, it's not going to take up too much of your day. Probably the most interesting thing about it is seeing Sarah Paulson in an atypical role, I think she usually ends up playing villains in sci-fi or horror films, and she doesn't usually land roles like this, namely a straight woman in a romance film.
NITPICK POINT: What happened to Amanda's sister, did she starve to death after Amanda never brought home the groceries? And who lets ice cream melt in their car, isn't that a terrible waste of money, and a food crime? Why couldn't they at least bring the ice cream in from her car and put it in Jim's freezer? Now all the groceries she bought are covered in melted butter pecan ice cream.
Also starring Sarah Paulson (last seen in "Bird Box"), Clu Gulager (last seen in "Once Upon a Time...in Hollywood")
RATING: 6 out of 10 romance novels on the bookshelf
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