Len and Company

It seems like this one didn't get a big audience. Well they missed out. This a fine little drama. Rhys Ifans steals the show as the grumpy and eccentric has been rock star but it also has a strong supporting cast with Juno Temple, Jack Kilmer and Keir Gilchrist. It is a movie about parents and children. Particularly fathers and sons and how the parents screw up the ones their are suppose to love unconditionally. Good performances, nice set pieces and a good story make for heartfelt movie.

"Len and Company" feels like a character study without much character. We get little bits of information here and there, but nothing very interesting. Rhys Ifans seems to be playing himself.

The story is something to do with a curmudgeonly music producer who lives alone when his son comes to visit. Soon after, the pop star he helped create also shows up, though I was never really sure as to why.

If you're interested in a "realistic" take on this situation, "Len and Company" may actually be up your alley. It feels naturalistic to the point of tedium. The actors all come across as very natural, and there is no attempt to give them distinct personalities. The direction is also really colourless. I got that the main character is supposed to be a closed-off genius of some description, but he just seemed like a jerk. I couldn't bring myself to care about any of this.

Movie is ok but I would not classify it as comedy. In whole movie there was only one scene that was bit funny and that was it. It is mostly sad and sometimes even dark. With that being said, if you want to watch some drama movie, this one probably won't disappoint you.

Greetings again from the darkness. Mining a mid-life crisis for new film material often results in something we have seen on screen too many times in the past. However the first feature film for writer/director Tim Godsall and co-writer Katharine Knight draws inspiration from the 2008 Carly Mensch one-act play "Len, Asleep in Vinyl", and what we get is a terrific little indie gem with multiple interesting characters.

Highly successful music producer Len Black has pretty much "dropped out" of society as evidenced by his quitting in the midst of an awards ceremony, and by his new hobby of floating in the algae-laden swimming pool at his country estate. His self-imposed exile seems designed to magically reveal the meaning of life and lead to a form of self-discovery. Soon his peaceful deep-in-thought zen is disrupted - first by the arrival of his estranged son Max, and then by the presence of his pop star protégé Zoe. Len is perturbed by the uninvited guests, and shows nothing approaching warmth or caring towards either.

What we really have is a 3 person collision of psychological crisis. Len is attempting to come of age (a bit late, given he's in his mid-40's); OCD Max has dropped out of school in hopes of making it with his band; and Zoe is on the verge of an emotional breakdown. Three messes all intertwined with each other, as Max just wants Len to be a dad this one time, and Zoe wants him to show a little compassion and not treat her like the pop music ATM she has become. Despite the relentless attention she has from her public and fans, what she needs is a bit of attention from the guy that got her into this.

Rhys Ifans plays Len, and his outstanding performance makes the film work. He realizes he's a jerk, but has no clue how to atone for the past. Jack Kilmer (Val's son who is also the "projectionalist" in The Nice Guys) plays Max as a carefully considered young man who is never without his "to do" list. Juno Temple plays Zoe, and perfectly captures the two sides and delicacy of young fame. As an added bonus, the fourth wheel is local kid William (Keir Gilchrist, It's Kind of a Funny Story), who ironically is a surrogate-son type to Len, and helps out with chores around the house. There is also a brief sequence featuring the always great Kathryn Hahn as Len's ex and Max's mom.

The heaviness of the emotional stuff is offset brilliantly by comedic moments … some small, others not so small. The scene with Len addressing William's classroom (in a quasi-take-a-parent-to-school day) is both hilarious and insightful. Minus any decorum or good judgment, Len spills to the students what his life has been. It's a turning point in the film as we finally see him as more than the dirtbag we originally thought. It also leads to Len's rant – right in Max's face – about the roots of rock and roll, and how a privileged, uptight young man couldn't possibly have the soul and spirit required to make a go of it.

Lessons are learned by all, and much enlightenment has occurred by film's end. Of course, those doing the teaching and those doing the learning are a bit unconventional, as it's Len who finally figures out solitude and loneliness may not be a worthy goal. It's a wonderful first feature from the filmmakers and a top notch performance from Mr. Ifans.

Len and Company is a lean and mean cinematic machine. A gem of a genuinely funny, quirky and heart-warming film you don't want to end.

I saw an early morning screening at TIFF to a pleased crowd and with writer-director and the two lead actors.

Tim Godsall is a Toronto native who is behind some of the world's most innovative and funny commercials in most part including Axe and XBOX, but now he express himself fully in his first feature, filmed in Ontario but representing upstate New York contemplative country setting.

The character of Len, played brilliantly by Rhys Ifans, is the main draw of this story because it could have been a cliché rock star satyr, but breathes instead of freshness, frailty and lots of humanness without losing its rough edges and "coolness" factor. Balanced with a lost son looking for acceptance, estranged wife, friendly younger neighbour and a talented but tormented young artist (Zoe) played by Juno Temple, the story reaches a near-perfect portrayal of a man who had it all, but is lost in the world. This multi-character interplay is spot on from both acting and directing standpoint and you could see that a real synergy had developed between all of them.

Every scene had dramatic tension but with a lot of humour throughout and actual exploration of human, artistic, psychological and philosophical truths or realities. You got to know and care about all this characters, feel for them and laugh with them. See the world through their eyes for a while and wish maybe you could have been in their less than perfect world a little longer but also appreciating your less than perfect world more when the credits rolled all too soon.

Jack Kilmer plays the son, Max, in perfect opposition to Rhys Ifans, Juno Temple and the other supporting cast. He keeps the movie grounded and real as opposed to Len (and Zoe)'s eccentricities. But Len is Len and scenes like his autobiographic rant in the classroom are classic comedy at a high degree, but not without the levity and bitterness both felt by the character and omnipresent in the farce, making it never far-fetched.

Tim Godsall took the right script with the right people, added some choice music and made it magic! Script, silence, dialogue, images, music and mood mixed to perfection.

May we see more movies (and dare I say less commercials) from a clear storyteller with a welcome edge. Best movie of 2015 so far? You got it. Other critics point out some petty underutilization of some story elements, supporting acting (compared to Ifans unanimous monster performance) or pace (note: the movie seems to have been trimmed down from 102 to 97 mins). I rather see this film to be a self-contained contemporary concoction that does not try to be all-encompassing but rather fleeting but with feeling like all its characters. In this aspect, its achieves this with extraordinary efficacy. The emotions, laughter and struggle resonate and the resolution or (lacktherof) is a recipe for enjoyable repeat viewing.

Canada 2015 | 97 mins | Toronto International Film Festival | English