Hello Lonesome

Adam Reid's first feature is excellent. He takes three unrelated but interwoven stories about love and life and sadness and loss, and makes one cohesive whole of them. Very smoothly and in a way that really draws you in.

Reid develops his characters in strong and believable ways, never overacted or romanticized. The story interweaves many emotions, and lives, and moments in a way that often makes you feel something real. And that is a rare accomplishment in a first film.

The cast is also very strong. Subtle and nuanced performances. Especially by first timer Harry Chase.

Watch it, you'll see, and I bet you'll tell your friends about it. Oh, the music choices are great too.

I saw this film at the Woodstock Film Festival last fall. Out of the twelve films I saw that weekend, this was my favorite one. It is the perfect combination of wit, sadness and love. It is such a great movie with, what I interpreted, companionship. Throughout the weekend, I kept hearing people talk about the film, and everyone seemed to share my feelings for it. This is easily one of the best independent films I've seen. What I specifically enjoyed about it was how every time I thought something was going to happen in the plot, I was pleasantly surprised with a small twist. There were also a few quotes from the film that still linger in my mind. All in all, it was a spectacular film. I hate to be cliché...but I definitely laughed and cried! It's a must see!!!

This is a sweet, not twee, slight film that was quite enjoyable. The theme of people, like birds, moving on after their nests have been disturbed is an important one. The film attempts to convey this rather abstract idea by using the technique of cross cutting between three stories to sustain the viewer's interest. The fact that these stories don't intersect and have only a subtle thematic connection creates a film where the whole seems less than the sum of the parts. That this apparently was the director's first full length film makes sense since it feels like three shorts that have been spliced together. Each of the stories is touching and does create feeling for the characters. I do think the writer/director has real talent and i will look out for his next film.

I'm thinking of writing a book called "Everything You Really Need to Know is in Some Beatles Song". In this case, the song would be "Eleanor Rigby", though here all the lonely people - whose portrayal seems to be the main point of this film - find at least some company. But the portrayal of loneliness is also a popular indie film theme and here it is very much given the indie film treatment: self-conscious quirkiness, studious poignancy, at least one out of the ordinary pairing. And largely aimless development, alas. Aimless, yet predictable in its aimlessness. As so often in first films (and this done on a very small budget), there is a lot to like here, notably the acting, which is alive and natural throughout. And there may come a time when this is mainly remembered as this promising director's early effort. What is more, the success this film has had award-wise show that indie juries at least still like the essentially formulaic approach of this sort of film. Me, I was watching four indie films in a row and hoping for that one you usually get that awakes and surprises you and goes beyond anything you expected. This wasn't it.

Hello Lonesome is a brilliant first film from some of the freshest new talent anywhere. The sophisticated direction by Adam Reid is met with nuanced performances by skillful actors. The indie vibe is unforced and genuine - not amateur or in-your-face. Never descending into melancholy, though the film's subject matter is for thoughtful adults, playfulness and joy permeate the atmosphere. Characters are three-dimensional, real people. They don't wear white hats or black hats. This is not Hollywood garbage. Watching these characters grow and evolve is a treat. There are no obvious answers to life's prickly dilemmas. And the film does not expect us to believe otherwise.

This is a gem of a film. You will be enriched for seeing it.