Rojo
Lonesome Jim
I was at a party the other night. It was a couple of friends from film school hosting and the topic of conversation kept coming back to film. A friend of mine posed the question “how does Steve Buscemi get so many girls”? My girl friend answered his question I thought without the benefit of thought “because he’s rich and he’s in the movies”. I having had now seven seconds to formulate a retort to his question said “No, it’s because he has a lot of talent and I reckon he would have incredibly good conversation, I also think he would quiet a funny guy and we all know that sense of humour can at times trump ugliness”. All agreed, I then posed a question “have you guys seen ‘Lonesome Jim’. A resounding “no” from all, so I told them about it like I’m about to tell you.
Buscemi Directs as well as acts. As an actor he is suburb, my mothers partner a man I don’t mind sounding arrogant in saying knows very little about film and I were watching a film based on a true story called ‘The Laramie Project‘. Jim (my mother’s lawn mowing boyfriend) made a astute observation, “this guy chooses some master roles”. I was so impressed with his wording of this statement, also of his recognition as I thought for people like Jim; Steve Buscemi would just be a “that guy”. Buscemi is a master actor, slightly limited but in everything I have ever seen him in he has never been “gash”.
As a Director he has nowhere as much cred as an actor, but this is not to say he is a bad Director, he is starting as he started as an actor - underground.
Trees Lounge is a bleak tale of an city suburb (I forget where) an older man begins a relationship with his friends younger daughter and the consequences that come from this. A very good movie, but what I really want to talk about is Lonesome Jim.
Casey Affleck broke through in this film. He plays Jim a boy of 29 who returns home to his small town from New York having not made it. Jim has returned to break down, take stock and begin again but he never gets the chance to break down. Instead he affects his brother Tim (Kevin Corrigan) with an observation.
“My life is fucked up, but yours is a fucking tragedy”. With this statement his brother is driven to attempt suicide and failing miserably is incapable of performing any physical tasks in his life. Jim having already been lured into working for his parents now has to take over aspects of his brothers daily tasks, including coaching a little girls basket ball team.
Then there’s the love aspect of this film. Roaming around his old haunts Jim runs into Anika played by Liv Tyler. She is a nurse and exhibit’s the aspects of you’re stereo-typical nurse (she’s a slut, I‘m sorry for all nurses that I offend), but as we get to know her we see that though she may be easy she really is a lovely girl. I would have to say I have never liked Liv Tyler as much as I did in this film.
There are times in films when you just know that a film is going to be good, and ‘Lonesome Jim’ is one of those films. Casey Affleck sprinting down the street with suitcases in both hands, a masterful piece of photography in the freezing cold some how there are waves of heat. (Just watch you’ll see what I’m saying).
We should always be aware when an actor tries their hand at Direction, especially if they have been in the biz for a while. Examples Eastwood, Gibson, Malkovich. You have to expect that their work is going to be good, why? Because they are good, it’s simple. A talented actor isn’t talented because they fluked it, or is just naturally blessed with an ability to become whatever character they want to, they become this way with hard work, trial and error, watching, talking, looking back, looking forward, living, fucking, breathing. They get this way because they are aware, they get this way because they concentrate, they accept, they learn and then they come out with a performance that makes you go damn shit that is a sublime actor. The same can be expected from their Direction. They will have applied all the dedication they have shown as an actor but now as a Director. Buscemi is one of these men, he is learning, he is crafting, he isn’t on the same page as Eastwood yet but he’ll get there, ‘Lonesome Jim’ is proof of this.
7/10
