Her Name Was Jo

I hadn't any idea what this was about and didn't read anything here first, so pardon my ignorance, but I did not realize that the friend was imaginary until very late in the game. I thought this character a puzzlement due to poor writing. The laughs on me, I guess. This is a curious little film. On one hand, the events of this ten year old girl's journey alone (surprise!) across the country is beyond preposterous, but if you put reality aside, a lot of it is interesting & touching. It offers a very realistic performance by a youngster named Mary Cate Williams who carries this little film about a young girl in search of her father, and seemingly just about any woman who would offer her motherly love, as she has no parents and comes from a very troubled upbringing making her both way older, wiser and hard than her number of years on earth would normally allow. It's a difficult film to rate. On one hand it's touching, but on the other, it's unbelievable. The way the film is presented (backflashes near the end of the film to previously shown scenes with the friend no longer in the shot), I don't think viewers were supposed to know in advance that her friend was not real, so shame on IMDB for revealing that in their description. I'm glad I didn't read it. BTW, the sound quality is awful.

No special effect, simple and effective road trip of an 10 year old trying to find her real father. The discussions of the 2 friends are profound and bring some philosophy to this world.

Back when my own children were 10 years old or so we made home movies with a portable VHS recorder. The kids were not trained actors and that is very clear. Same with this small movie, the two 10-yr-old girls who carry the story are mostly adequate but my wife and I were frustrated at times by their inability to speak clearly, this caused us to miss some of the dialog. Plus the background music was mostly too loud for the rest of the sounds.

Still I found it to be a worthwhile viewing. Jo is 10, with no mother and a stepdad drunk or drugged all the time in their little home on a small lake. She has to wake him up in the mornings. Until one morning he was unable to wake up. Coincidentally when summer break starts. Jo thinks her real father is an entertainer in Los Angeles so she figures she needs to make the cross-country trip, along with her "friend".

There is a significance to use of "her name WAS" in the title, part of her reinventing her life was to begin to use of her name Josephine. Her trip is a harrowing experience, but of course all fiction. The young actress is fine except for her often unintelligible dialog.

The end credits show that this was a family affair for the writer/director/producer & lyrics writer. I presume most of the "actors" are family and friends, from the last names shown.

No, by normal movie standards this is a pretty poor movie but I am glad I watched it, for its making me think about the plight that kids like this have when they find themselves in an unstable homelife. We found it streaming on Amazon.

A rare jewel in the tornado of super hero movies. The journey of Jo is not just the search for her biological father. It is far more a joint journey for the spectators with Jo as she coldly penetrates the world of adults with her only friend Selma. While the movie can be summarized in a few sentences, the emotional attachment we develop for Jo and her friend grows enormously up to the end. Heartbreaking with very dim lights of hope. Mary Cate Williams delivers a sensational performance, supported by the touching help from Eliza Duca. A movie to watch with your heart.

Mary Cate Williams is Jo,a ten year-old girl whose mother has died and is living in Virginia with a drug addicted father. She leaves home with her best friend and they embark on a journey to find her biological father. They encounter a colorful cast of characters along the way. Williams is excellent and the supporting cast fine. The last parts of the film were a disappointment, especially a scene with Jo and a counterpart speaking to each other with only music playing without explanation. Subtitles are needed as the two girls are sometimes impossible to hear due to bad audio and too loud and annoying music in the background. The soundtrack is a major drawback; the singer ain't Bob Dylan. Overall, worth a watch for Williams performance.