Our Friend Jon

Highly recommended--a moving tribute to friendship and the power of filmmaking and storytelling. When Jon dies at a young age, his friends vow to produce the slasher film screenplay he'd been developing. This documentary follows their journey as first-time filmmakers, and creates a real sense of anticipation to see the finished "film within a film." Subjects pushing themselves out of their comfort zone, in memory of a dear friend. A story that could easily dip into pathos and sentimentality, but instead holds a steady camera on the subjects and lets them speak powerfully for themselves. Memorable.

I just watched this movie at The Widescreen Film Festival in Las Vegas where it won best documentary. A very emotional and awe inspiring story about a group of friends with special needs who make a movie written by their friend who passed away from Sickle Cell Anemia. It's an emotional roller coaster that's best when viewed with a close friend. I hope a major studio buys this so I can see it again.

This documentary doesn't have to try and give you feels, it just does it. Our Friend Jon makes you take a step back and question your own personal issues and makes you ask yourself, "is my issue really THAT big?" From start to finish it will have you appreciating life on another level!

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.

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!