Lonesome Jim – DVD Review

Film, Reviews

Directed by:
Steve Buscemi

Starring:
Casey Affleck …. Jim
Liv Tyler …. Anika
Mary Kay Place …. Sally
Seymour Cassel …. Don
Kevin Corrigan …. Tim
Mark Boone Junior …. Evil

IFC Films presents a film directed by Steve Buscemi. Written by James C. Strouse. Running time: 91 minutes. Rated R (for language, some sexuality and drug content). Released on DVD: August 29, 2006

The Movie


What is it with films today only focusing on the depressing and despairing times in peoples lives? Where they’re beaten by the real world and return home with their dreams and aspirations practically non existent? Lonesome Jim comes out in a time where films of it’s kind are being released more and more it seems each year. From 2005’s Elizabethtown and Junebug to 2004’s Garden State, films about guys returning to a place they dreamed only of running away from years earlier seem to be in high demand these days.

Jim went to New York in order to live his life as a writer like Hemmingway and all his other personal literature heroes. Instead he wound up walking dogs and bussing tables at a local Applebees. Life delivers it’s final crushing blow of defeat by sending him home broke, alone, and without a single silver lining that he could look towards. His only real plan from this point was to have a good old fashion breakdown.

On top of that, the poor guy is nowhere near where he envisioned himself to be at this point in his life. Now he’s home with people asking the exact questions he dreads to even think about. He’s the type of guy who probably runs through all the possible questions that he would be asked about his life adventures and come up with completely well poignant answers. Yet when the time comes where he’s asked such questions, he replies with a mumbling half answer that fades away the more he goes on.

He begins to find himself pulled in to the family business which he as you could probably tell, isn’t exactly thrilled at the idea. But with his mother short handed and his brother resting at the hospital after a failed attempted suicide, he doesn’t have much say on the matter. Shortly after, however, Jim discovers some very unsavory things happening at the factory perpetrated by his uncle Evil. Evil is that uncle every one avoids at Christmas time because chances are that he’s drunk and wants to talk about things no one has any idea about, and still prattles on even though no one is paying him any attention. Jim also has Sally who tries to show his the brighter side of life, that it isn’t measured in your personal accolades, just your happiness.

Written by Jim Strouse, the characters are named after his family members, the film was shot in the house he grew up in, and many of the elements in the screenplay appear to be events that happened in his real life. So the line between what is part of the story and what happened to him growing up is almost completely gone. Which is probably the reason why the story and script flow so well. By putting so much of himself in the screenplay, Strouse was able to develop a story that, while probably not easy to write, is very much a part of himself.

I don’t think anyone ever looked at Casey Affleck and through to themselves that he would make a great leading man. But if you ever need proof to his abilities then look no further than Lonesome Jim. He brings so much believability and honestly to the Jim character that’s its’s hard to not see his talent. Liv Tyler as his savior is another actress one never expects much from, she’s talented but not exactly the first name that comes to mind when thinking of films best actresses. She plays the thankless role of attempting to bringing Jim out of his stupor. She could have easily been that paper thin character, but instead she brings something to the role that pulls us in.

While far from the most original film to ever be made, the writing and acting have made the bland and predictable parts of the film and reshaped them into part of its charm. Turning it in to a funny and uplifting tale of remembering that while life may have you down now, there will always be that one thing worth fighting for. You just need to open your eyes and find it. It’s convention in every way imaginable, but call me a sucker for convention because this film worked for me the entire time I was watching it.

The DVD


Video:
(Presented in 1.78:1 Anamorphic Widescreen)
Shot on a shoe string budget, Lonesome Jim looks just like many might expect from an indie film that exemplifies the true meaning of “indie”. The movie was shot on DV cameras and the picture is at times almost completely drenched in noise, while at other times coming off very close to film quality. It’s a shame that a film like this had to be made under such conditions, but the quality of the movie and its story make up for all the technical problems.

Audio:
(English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround)
The film relies heavily on the dialogue and dark humor from the script and very little on music. So what’s here is a plain no frills track that does its job on making sure the words come out clear with as little distortion as possible; and on that front, it succeeds.

Extras:

Feature Length Commentary – Director Steve Buscemi and writer Jim Strouse are on the track and cover a multitude of topics like the shooting schedule, the editing process, filming with almost no money, casting, and how the two met and started moving forward with the project. It’s a very informative rack that keeps rolling with few if any dead spots.

Making Lonesome Jim: A Promotional Featurette (6:04) – There’s nothing here that you don’t learn from either the films commentary track or watching the movie itself. Included in the featurette is a few scenes from the movie that if you’ve already watched the film can feel a bit boring to rewatch again.

The DVD Lounge’s Ratings for Lonesome Jim
CATEGORY
RATING
(OUT OF 10)
THE MOVIE

7.5
THE VIDEO

4
THE AUDIO

5
THE EXTRAS

4
REPLAY VALUE

7
OVERALL
6
(NOT AN AVERAGE)

The Inside Pulse
Having seen slightly over 100 movies already this year, there are very few that I can say I truly enjoyed. Lonesome Jim is one of those films. While the DVD package could have used more, and the video is far from being a benchmark on the format, this is a film I know I’ll be watching a lot in the future and I hope you will too.

Currently residing in Washington D.C., John Charles Thomas has been writing in the digital space since 2005. While he'd like to boast about the culture and scenery, he tends to be more of a procrastinating creative type with an ambitious recluse side. @NerdLmtd