Our Friend Jon

Very heart warming and touching documentary. One of the best documentaries out there. Hands down. Very emotional, motivational and beautifully made. I laughed, I cried, I cheered. Never in million years I felt very emotional watching a documentary. Well done and congrats to director Edward Payson. This is a masterpiece everyone needs to see. Check it out when it becomes available.

I saw Our Friend Jon last night at the Valley Film Festival here in Los Angeles in the valley. Just a terrific documentary about the making of a movie written by a Jon Hernandez who passed from Sickle cell anemia before the film could be made. The filmmakers of the film within the doc all have special needs or disabilities which don't seem to get in the way of their passion about making Jon's horror film come to life. It was inspiring to see, as my step father had spina bifida which one of the filmmakers, the director of the doc's brother, Garret Payson also has and to see him over come his disability and finish the film is truly inspiring. And a close relative of mine is autistic and my wife has worked with kids with special needs for years - so it was wonderful to see a film highlight the talents of people who often get over looked in our society.

I went into the screening not knowing anything about the movie. The last time I did that was my friend's doc, Dear Zachary, and the result was me being a blubbering mess as I cried my eyes out at the twists and turns of that documentary. Our Friend Jon did the same to me last night although I am happy to say the film has an optimistic ending that should inspire any burgeoning filmmaker.

I highly recommend the film.

This movie put me through all the emotions! Happy, sad, laughter, scared. Make sure you have your tissues! You can do anything you put your mind to, and these guys sure did it! They got to honor their friend, while finding themselves in the process! Now I want to make a movie!!! Thanks for the inspiration!

This film was so amazing and touching. I love to see such strength and kindness in people. I was lucky enough to be part of a small Art/Film/Music Festival as a musician and I felt like seeing that before we played really touched us. I can honestly say I will be watching this movie more than a few more times!!

I'm an actor and I've been in an Edward Payson film. Not this one. A horror film. That's what Edward Payson is known for: making horror films.

Which makes "Our Friend Jon" all the more striking.

A blessing to the parched soul (and I say that with no hyperbole,) "Our Friend Jon" cannot help but be spiritual refreshment to anyone who sees it and really settles in with the story; with Garrett, with Brandon, with Nick, with the moms, with the friends.

With Jon.

The film is moving in some weird, quiet way. I struggled for a word to describe the sensation, and finding none, created one: humanness. There's no attempt here to manipulate emotion or to make anyone a hero or (despite circumstances) a victim. There's just friendship. Friendship as it actually exists in the private lives we all actually live. It's like being in someone else's home and finding that it is somehow your home, too.

Watch Our Friend Jon. It validates the quiet nobility of our messy, ordinary lives. It makes you long for what is lost, and remember that there is always a future. You'll want to hug somebody. And not a red-carpet hug either. The real kind.

This doc will last.