Jess + Moss

Every now and then a one-of-a-kind film comes along which breaks the mould.

This is such a film. And frankly since I am adding this review several years after the release, I will confess I enjoyed the handful of reviews already left here on the IMDb because the writers clearly tried to impart the joy they felt while viewing. That too is rare.

My only quibble is with the earlier comment that this is "not" an experimental film.

That may be under-stating the obvious.

Up until Jess + Moss, in spite of my many reviews on the IMDb, I was not convinced it was even possible to create a film which is more visual montage (like a scrapbook) than linear narrative, and still have it connect with the viewer.

This film proves I was wrong. I remember years ago Hollywood took a Stephen King tale (with the typical King complex narrative) and struggled mightily to achieve the same light tone, the same joie de vivre, the same re-imagining of what it is like to be a child on the verge of adulthood.

Hollywood did succeed nicely. This film, however, aces it.

Jess (Sarah Hagan) and Moss (Austin Vickers) are second cousins. Their parents were best of friends. They spend their summers together. She likes to draw. They wonder aimlessly through the tobacco fields and abandoned buildings of Kentucky.

This film looks beautiful with a degraded feel of the rural decay. It's not just the rural locations, or the rundown junk. It's the low grade film and the way it's shot. There isn't much of a story as the movie meanders from one scene to the next. Sometimes there are no rhyme or reason. It's a just a series of scenes. It does turn a little bit disturbing. In the end, it's a very fascinating little movie. It's a lazy endless summer captured on film.

The climbing down the silo scene should not have been edited cut short.

That's all i have to critique.

No Jennifer Lawrence or a revealing plot or narrated emotions or incentives. Its predominantly a nice moving picture for me.

This was such a sweet little film. Have been back from Sundace for a week. This is the movie that has floated to the top in the surface in my mind. The story was beautiful and the cinematography made you taste and smell- from the verdant green moss jars, the dilapidated house, to the expansive tobacco fields that they played in. You hate it to end and want to know what happened later for these innocents. They gave out view finders (with actual pieces of the film in them) after the screening- tiny buttons too. Sarah Hagan and Austin Vickers were on hand afterward -as well as Clay Jeter. I felt like I had witnessed something perfect and good.