Hello I Must Be Going

This film screened at the 2012 New Hampshire Film Festival in Portsmouth, NH and several of the people I spoke to after really enjoyed it. I will admit that I felt it was slow at times. However, for anyone who has been through a divorce or knows someone who has been through a divorce, this is a fun film that I think can help a lot of people. I saw myself in some of the characters and I saw my friends and family. Two friends who saw the movie said that one scene came right out of their own lives after they got divorced. So while it may not be for everyone, I highly recommend this film to people who can relate to the material and think they might enjoy seeing the difficult subject of divorce treated with intelligence, humanity and humor.

The underlying feeling tones that stood out in this movie for me were: Real, Raw, Genuine, Authentic, Intimate and Sincere Connection. The film reminded me of a time in life when you're in college, living on student loans or in your parents house and you still have the time and the innocence (you haven't yet been scarred and jarred by "the real world") to make these beautiful, sometimes fleeting…sometimes short-lived connections with another human being. Things like sharing family secrets, or staying on the phone until 6am while the sun comes up. Once the focus becomes "the job", "the bills" and other responsibilities; many of these beautiful moments become lost. Once an "adult", one quickly learns that relationships are often superficial, dis-honest and based on ulterior motives. This movie put me in touch with the emotions of what it's like to feel alive, loved and accepted even though you don't have it all figured out. Overall, I would give the movie a 6 but for emotional impact, I would add another 2 stars. Great gem of a film with a perfect soundtrack to accompany.

Amy (Melanie Lynskey) has left her husband and moved back with her parents (Blythe Danner, John Rubinstein). She is depressed and unmotivated. She can barely get up the will to dress nicely for a dinner party. At the party, she begins an affair with 19 year old Jeremy (Christopher Abbott). She becomes energized as she risks discovery of the inappropriate affair.

This is Melanie Lynskey's movie and her best performance ever. As always she is her lovable vulnerable self. But she stretches to encompass the many different emotions of her character. The only problem is the perfectly crafted speeches she gives. It's a thin line between poignant emotional truth and too perfect hokey monologue. Luckily Amy is a middle age character, not the usual emo teen. So I'm willing to go with the former, and buy that she's a lit major. Melanie Lynskey finally returns to a lead role in a movie. And she is amazing in it. I hope she will get more chances at the leading lady role in the future.

(2012) Hello, I Must Be Going DRAMA

Not bad movie, but was only credible up until a certain point, which was until the female main star who's middle age, begin to have one of many affairs with a 19 year old young man. The movie stars, Amy (Melanie Lynskey) who still can't get over a recent divorce from her husband of many years. And she shows this by staying with her parents house without taking a single step outside- similar to how a hermit would live. While hanging around there, her mother (Blyth Danner) then informs her, that as a result her husband trying to get some clients, both of them can go on to their pre-planned world wide vacation, except that they're expected to have dinner with the main boss. Upon bringing his own family to this dinner also includes his 19 year old actor son, Jeremy (Christopher Abbott). It's like Jeremy doesn't seem to have any other friends neither from high school or from college, no mentioning of any goals, including the fact that it would take an affair with a 19 year old to help a middle age woman identify herself is something one can see from a soap opera. Except that it's more credible on a soap opera than it would be for a two hour movie as it would require a time spawn of several months if not years for anything like that to happen in real life.

A great performance by Melanie Lynskey is tainted by "dirty", completely unnecessary R-rated content that could have and should have been omitted to make this a clean PG-rated film.

While showing us a sad middle-aged divorcee slowly turning her life around by flinging with a teenager, this film preaches that guys are jerks, parents are hopeless, modern art is beautiful, modern artists are important, what Jeremy pretends to be is a great thing, how Gwen behaves about it is even greater, and also that are weed and anti-depressants are wonderful.

There's so much unrealistic profanity that it gets silly, and there are some indie trope traps, but it's an interesting film nonetheless. It's low-key and mostly well-crafted, with very good performances also from Sarah Chase, Blythe Danner, and Julie White.

Edit: After a year, an additional viewing, and lots of additional pondering, I will add that I now think this film is not about Amy but rather her parents. Amy gets most of the screen time, but it's actually about mom and dad having struggled for years through a stressful, unhappy marriage, and the effects this has had on everyone.

Amy's mom is miserable and a major insomniac. Amy's dad is in denial and manipulates. The parents seem to have given up at attempting to communicate with one another many years ago. Amy is a bit of a wreck with almost no self-esteem. And Amy's brother is a spoiled ingrate.

All of this, if you watch and listen closely, stems from decades of the bad marriage.