Blue Jay

This movie reminds me a very known quote by a Romanian author, Octavian Paler: "Something you don't feel at the right moment, you will never feel it again." It's that kind of movie that motivates you to live your life as long as you have it and never forget about your old friends and the place you grew, especially the persons you once loved. I learned that something written is more powerful than spoken words. You can easily find out that if you are not surrounded with love, if you don't have someone you want to share your life with, you became lost, confused, sad and maybe depressive (Jim). I finish this movie with tears in my eyes, realizing that this story may be something true among us.

It's the first review I'm writing. Actually, I've never felt the need of writing a review- thought that the score I give is already a good contribution. But Blue Jay is something else. It's the most genuine feeling I've ever felt while watching a movie, in the sense the once I finished it, I didn't feel than it was far from my own reality at all. The way nostalgia was pictured is fascinating. The words that were used were so close to the words that I would have used myself in such a situation that sometimes, I've found myself saying out loud, at the same time, what one of them were saying.

Magical, genuine, sweet, emotional, simple, true. Brilliant.

Every once in a while you discover diamonds like this movie. Minimalistic, a script and just two actors who play their heart out. They have to be good because it is just them for every minute of the movie but boy do they succeed.

Mark Duplass acting that conveys the loneliness that his character feels but still making it seem so natural. You just believe him and I think it is combination of good dialog and brilliant actors that you never actually think they are delivering lines. It feels very organic.

Not to take away anything from Duplass but Sarah Paulson is carrying this. She is able speak just with facial expressions and looks. She will just change a look or tilt her head slightly and you will know what she thinks or wants to say and Duplass Character knows that to. In a way the audience is him trying to get as much as we can from the wonderful Amanda played by Sarah Paulson.

Sometimes we have the pleasure to watching a film that is simple and complicated and honest. This movie is fantastical in that it allows the viewer to experience wish fulfillment in a way that the "adulting" generation lacks. It is romantic and kind. Mark Duplass writes a simple and powerful script that allows Sarah Paulson to shine. Their chemistry is contagious and mimics the innocence of love in youth and life in adulthood. Filmed in shades of grey, it is an artistic homage to what life was like before it unfolded into adulthood. If anyone has strolled down memory lane and recognized where life experience has created the person they've become... then this film is for you. (All of the perfect 90's references don't hurt either.)

Simple and beautiful, it is worth the watch. 7 days of filming - without colour - puts the blockbuster generation to shame.

So much yes.

Are you in love? Or, do you want to fall in love? Or, are you heart broken? Whatever the case may be, Alex Lehmann's Blue Jay is the perfect remedy. Here is a film so honestly made that it will make your heart melt. Blue Jay is essentially a two handler about two former high school lovers who bump into each other for the first time in two decades.

It is an awkward situation at first. But soon it develops into a very memorable day for the both of them. There are moments of immense joy and pain as they revisit their past through their present. It's like experiencing catharsis. Indie films, when they are really good, can really pack a punch because they are not bound by the liability to placate the Studio bosses, thereby allowing greater liberty to the filmmaker. And, Blue Jay is a very well made indie film and certainly one of the better indies that I have ever seen.

One of the greatest strengths of the film are the acting performances of Mark Duplass and Sarah Paulson. The two of them look so natural (the choice monochrome of course helps... color would have drastically toned down the intensity). Both the actors demonstrate a great range of emotions. Duplass looks the more volatile of the two but it is as per the demand of the character. As for Paulson, her smile seems capable of speaking a thousand words. Together, they create magic, which, I daresay, most Hollywood A- listers fail to create these days.

The film has its share of flaws but overall it makes for a wonderful movie viewing experience. If you are a hopeless romantic then this film is certainly for you

For more on the world of cinema, please visit my film blog "A Potpourri of Vestiges".