‘But there is this sadness… and I don’t know where it comes from…’
I loved Paddleton. Alex Lehmann’s instant classic about two men that bond over an invented game is genuinely beautiful and infinitely poignant. It was that minor masterpiece that led me to Blue Jay – Lehmann’s mostly improvised debut feature. As with Paddleton, Blue Jay is written by Mark Duplass, who also stars, and like that movie, this one deals with big emotions. Big feelings. The fact that it does so not quite as successfully as the film that would follow it is not in anyway a reflection on the two leads – both of whom are wonderful throughout…
Jim (Duplass) and Amanda (Sarah Paulson) are swept up by nostalgia when they run into each other in their tiny California hometown. It soon becomes clear that some feelings were left painfully unresolved.
It is a simple premise and one that relies on the chemistry shared by the leads. Duplass and Paulson have a blast in the more light hearted moments, and supply an emotional resonance during the bigger scenes that ensures that a film that is basically just two people talking never becomes dull. Artfully shot in a yearning black and white, Blue Jay finds two actors who clearly relish the opportunity to spread their wings at the top of their game, and a director who seems destined for bigger and better things.
Blue Jay will be too low key for some. Not enough action. But for those of us that skip the explosions to get to the talking, Alex Lehmann’s film is a calming tonic in an ocean of noise. It’s no surprise to see something that bares the name of Mark Duplass being so damn good.