Come Early Morning

Saw this at the Chicago Film Festival and it was a great experience. The movie is a glimpse into the life and relationships of Lucy (Ashley Judd). I went in thinking it was going to be very intense and sad (especially after seeing some of the movie stills) and was very pleasantly surprised at the descriptive intense way the complex Lucy was portrayed and the light feel of the movie despite some very unhappy circumstances. I left the movie feeling like I got to know a good person and had some hope - but didn't see Hollywood clichés or forced happily ever afters.

The writer/director Joey Lauren Adams didn't take any shortcuts and quite happily didn't try to make a movie that appealed to everyone. This is a "real" southern town with "real" people. In the after movie question and answer session with Ms. Adams, she said it would be an interesting exercise to re-shoot the entire movie, keeping the dialog, with a man in the lead role. I keep going back to that…. I'd love to hear/see/read the different reactions of critics and audiences to the male and female versions of "Lucy".

Greetings again from the darkness. First time writer and director Joey Lauren Adams is probably best known as Amy in "Chasing Amy". Here she bares her soul in a story based on her life in Little Rock, Arkansas.

The premise of the emotionally absent local girl (a very earth turn by Ashley Judd) who drinks away her pain while sleeping with many a different guy is not necessarily a bad place to start when telling a story of self discovery. What goes wrong here is just the constant cloud of depressing people and scenes. We have no one to pull for (except maybe Kim, played cheerily by Laura Prepon from "That 70's Show") as they all seem to be drowning in a sea of self pity. Perhaps that is Ms. Adams point.

The supporting cast is impressive and solid with Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Scott Wilson, Stacy Keach, Tim Blake Nelson and Pat Corley. Sadly, none are really given much to work with as far as script or character development. While, as a writer, Ms. Adams shows little promise, we should not give up just yet on her directorial abilities. She does a nice job of capturing small town U.S.A.

COME EARLY MORNING marks the writing and directing debut of Joey Lauren Adams who elects to share a bit of her birthplace atmosphere in Arkansas and while the story is sound and the writing evocative of the personal turmoil of little towns populated by good but bored people, there is nothing new here. But just the opportunity to see gifted actress Ashley Judd strut her stuff is reason enough to watch this little film and makes us wonder where has she been since her 2004 stint in 'De-Lovely'. She is just too fine an actress not to be given more beefy roles.

Lucy Fowler (Judd) lives in a little Arkansas town, a successful contractor with boss Owen Allen (Stacy Keach, another underused fine actor), but a woman without a firm attachment to her fragmented family: her shy and sequestered father (Scott Wilson) has returned to town where he hides in alcohol and steps out only for Holy Roller church services; her grandmothers Doll (Candyce Hinkle) is unstable and keeps to herself and Nana (Diane Ladd) remains in a mutually abusive marriage; and her uncle Tim (Tim Blake Nelson) who is the only stalwart member of the clan. Lucy lives with her friend Kim (Laura Prepon) who understands Lucy's shortcomings: unable to form relationships, Lucy spends her weekends getting drunk at the local tavern and sleeping with anonymous men whom she deserts a dawn.

But things change when Lucy encounters Cal Percell (Jeffrey Donovan) who provides her with the first semblance of normalcy in her relationships with men, a frightening new step she abuses by entering into her drinking mode again. Lucy begins to make changes in her view of her family, her fear of being the mirror image of her father, in her work, and in the way she views men. And the film just trails off leaving us wondering what life will now be like.

Adams has a fine handle on her subject and creates dialog that feels like it should: her election to make such a fine three-dimensional character out of Lucy's father who barely has a line to say is much to her credit (and the strong performance by Scott Wilson!). But in the end it is the pleasure of seeing Ashley Judd in a meaty role that makes the difference. Grady Harp

I just saw the the movie yesterday at the Tower Theatre in Salt Lake City obviously during Sundance. The place was packed. The movie was 97 minutes which I thought was long. The movie kept my attention somewhat (wasn't dozing off) but it was just missing something. No high or low points in the movie. After listening to the Director and finding out that it it has taken 5 years to produce this movie I was shocked. Ashley Judd did an OK job of acting but this movie was about a lady drinker who loved to have sex with no relationship. Thats it. Nothing more. The country music in the movie was good. I would consider buying the soundtrack if there was one. Don't count on it, according to the director.

Ashley Judd gives a remarkable performance in this film but there are lots of other reasons to see it. Indeed, the music is very good, and there is a CD soundtrack (I checked Amazon as soon as I came home).

There are many painful moments as an extended and frayed family tries to talk to each other, or avoid it. It's about being stuck in old patterns and being clueless about making changes, no matter how old the people are.

I know one reason the film got local buzz is because it was filmed here, but as someone who hasn't lived in AR long, I was just an average movie goer looking to see Judd in something that was not a highly charged thriller. Ruby in Paradise (1993) was the first time I ever saw her, and that film about how to survive when no matter what you do doesn't seem enough, showed her talent. Come Early Morning evoked the same feelings.

The whole project seems a labor of love, love of real people living ordinary lives and doing the best they can.