The Moment

I'll start off with something positive: all of the performances in "The Moment" were quite good. The casting was really spot-on, and all the actors performed admirably. Jennifer Jason Lee does a great job capturing the essence of a woman completely detached from reality. Beyond that, I couldn't find anything I liked about this movie, starting with the extreme shaky-cam throughout (was this movie shot from a canoe?) to the awkward, mumbling lost-soul characters, the too- close close-ups, constant loss of focus, the confusing time-jumps forward and back and around again, and the dialogue that just never rang true for me. If I saw that refrigerator butter dish one more time I was going to scream. I couldn't help but wonder "Who put up money for this?" At the after-party at the Tribeca Film Festival, the crowd was quiet and polite during the Q&A, and the only audience question was from someone curious about the therapist scenes. That's a clue. In the unofficial poll I conducted among people I spoke with at the party, the only folks who liked the movie were either psych patients or psychology students. So I guess the bottom line is, if you're crazy, you'll love this movie.

I saw Jennifer Jason Leigh on stage in Proof, and she was wonderful. She is a marvelous actress who appears in independent films of varying quality.

"The Moment" from 2013 is just such a film. It has an interesting premise and had the potential of being truly brilliant. But it's too convoluted and misses the mark.

That's just my opinion. People on the board seem to like it, though I think it only had 1-1/2 or 2 stars on Netflix, and a 5 rating here. Not sure who's voting.

The movie goes forward and back in time. Leigh plays a photographer (named Lee), and when we first see her, she goes to the home of someone named John, calls him, and says her cameras are in his home and she needs to get in. He doesn't respond.

She gets into the house and finds that he hasn't been there in quite a while. She goes to the police to report him missing.

Then the movie starts to go back in time and into the present.

Lee ends up in a psychiatric hospital and we learn about the problems she had with John. And she meets a man also in the hospital named Peter, whom she tells her therapist looks exactly like John.

Both men are played by Martin Henderson, who could not be more handsome, and to have him play both parts was a major mistake. I realize I wasn't concentrating hard enough, but I had trouble figuring out if she was talking to John or Peter - were we in the past or the present?

Anyway, Lee is afraid that she killed John. As she tries to regain some grip on reality, we learn about her problems with her daughter and what actually happened with John. She realizes the truth about John and the truth about her troubled relationship with her daughter.

I feel that the director, Jane Weinstock, was not experienced enough to handle this kind of film, but I give her credit for taking it on. I understand, according to one review, that the people who liked it were psychiatrists or their patients. Interesting.

Jennifer Jason Leigh was something like 51 when this was made, and she looks like a woman in her thirties, and she's not heavily made up. In Proof, she was playing someone 25 and she was 40. She does a great job of playing this confused and frightened woman.

This is a psychological drama with an unsatisfying ending. I can't say I liked it. I do think it was a mistake not to cast different actors as John and Peter. It would have helped - immensely.

I was nice seeing Jennifer Jason Leigh in "The Moment", as she's a very talented woman and I have marveled at her skills after seeing her years ago in "The Hudsucker Proxy" (it's one of the most underrated films of the decade and she was wonderful in the film). What surprised me, though, is that she is in her 50s and she sure looked amazingly young-- and I thought she was a decade younger. She's also quite good in this movie, though the script occasionally let her and the audience down-- though at other times, it's quite clever and unusual.

The film is a bit difficult to follow at the beginning. This is because the film jumps about sequentially--and continues to do so from time to time. If you pay attention, this shouldn't be a problem--but you really have to focus on what is occurring and when. Because of this, I don't recommend you watch it if you are tired or just want a casual viewing experience.

Leigh plays Lee (huh?), a successful photographer who is losing her mind. Not surprisingly, she soon ends up in a psychiatric hospital--a very nice private clinic where she receives regular therapy. Through the course of this treatment, her back story is revealed and it involves a guy named John (Martin Henderson). John seems like a decent sort of guy and she soon is in love with him. However, there are VERY serious and unexpected consequences and soon John disappears. Lee has convinced herself that she must have killed him, though her therapist assumes this is a manifestation of her mental illness. Through the course of their time together as well as her new friendship with a man who looks almost EXACTLY like John (ALSO played by Martin Henderson), she comes to realize the truth as well as the truth about her troubled relationship with her daughter.

I generally liked the film. A few minor things, however, could have used a bit of polish. One is a problem most folks won't notice. With my background as a psychotherapist as well as teaching psychology, I realized that either Lee's therapist was not especially well written. In most movies and TV shows, psychologists and psychiatrists are shown asking tons of questions and even uttering the stupid phrase 'how does that make you feel?'--though universities teaching new therapists avoid these clichés mostly because they don't help the therapeutic process. While it wouldn't look good in a movie, a good therapist actually says very little and pushes the patient to do most of the talking. Again, however, most folks won't know that this SHOULD be the case. What most will recognize, however, is that the resolution of the film isn't completely satisfying and you may be left wondering if perhaps the film could have ended in a more satisfying manner. Finally, with Martin Henderson playing nearly identical strangers--that is ridiculous. So if I see these problems, why do I still give the movie a B? Well, the acting is very good and quite convincing. Additionally, the plot is creative and interesting--even with a few hiccups.

The film is out this week from Netflix--and it's well worth seeing.

Jane Weinstock's exciting The Moment kept me on the edge of my seat, literally. The Moment traces the shattered mind of Lee, a war photographer, as she tries to piece together her recent past. The trauma of war, the possibility of a lover's murder or suicide, these plague her. Weinstock lets events unfold, in complex moments that evidence Lee's patterns of thought and memory, especially in fascinating scenes between her and her psychoanalyst. It's a heady, sexy movie, each gripping moment beautifully visualized. What I love especially is that there is a reason and motive for everything that happens in every scene. The Moment is a thrilling experience.

What have I gotten myself into?

Jennifer Jason Leigh is not that cute teenager from "Fast Times at Ridgemont High". I forget how many years ago that was. Someone in the movie comments that Lee looks younger than her age, but I think she looks her age. In some scenes she makes an effort to look good, but really her looks aren't that important since she has such an appealing personality. When she's not depressing. Even in those other scenes, I eventually adjust because Leigh does such a good job overall. She gives us quite a range of emotions and feelings, from nearly helpless or mentally incapacitated to troubled and confused to very confident, though I'm happiest when she's pleasant and funny. Yes, this is occasionally a romantic comedy.

Martin Henderson effectively shows us two very different characters.

Marianne Jean-Baptiste makes an excellent therapist. I would have been happier if the camera operator could have stayed still in her scenes.

I was very surprised to see Meat Loaf in the credits. I don't care for the singer at all, but I knew the actor playing Sgt. Goodman did a good job, but I never suspected, even though I had seen the name earlier, that it was him.

Alia Shawkat does a good job too as the troubled daughter.

Also, we get to see Lee at work in Somalia with her translator. I'm going to guess her name is Hawa, from looking at the credits, but I didn't get her name from watching. Actually, I'd like to have seen more of these scenes.

If the back and forth isn't confusing enough, some scenes are repeated, with some missing detail included on the second, third or fourth time. And when I realized what was happening, I thought what a shame. I was enjoying the scenes from the past.

Overall, this is worth seeing, if you're willing to be challenged.