Writer/Directors of films, over the last fifty years, have
championed and promoted the phrase “personal vision” and/or “auteur”. Other creative art forms like painting, music,
and writing usually are created alone.
Film, however, is a collaborative art form. Instead of paint, clay, or musical notes, movies are the stuff of
dreams accompanied by a story. And, stories have words and images about people
or things that move.
Henry Jaglom is an American actor, and a writer/director of
sometime quirky and idiosyncratic films that often deal with women’s issues, or
subject matter that main- stream writer/directors often eschew. Jaglom relishes the filmic road less
traveled.
He epitomizes the “indie filmmaker”, and often uses his
family and friends as actors in his films, occasionally joining the cast
himself in order to tell his stories of ordinary people, with not so ordinary
problems. His films are character
driven, and entertaining, if one can get on his wavelength. If not, then a Jaglom film may leave you
scratching your head and asking yourself what was it that I just sat through?
“ Just 45 Minutes From Broadway”, now booking into art
houses across the country, is a typical Jaglom movie. For starters, Jaglom
introduces us to a dysfunctional family of unconventional actors. A family gathering is the rationale to
introduce a new, staid, fiancé (Judd Nelson) of Betsy (Julie Davis) the acting
family’s traditionally minded “non pro” older sister, to her show biz family
and relatives. They all gather, over a
weekend, at her parents George and Vivien Isaacs’ (Jack Heller and Diane Louise
Salinger) crumbling and aging-without-grace, home in a sylvan woodland setting
outside New York City.
George is a Chekovian devotee who views and lives his life
through the literary lens of Anton Chekov.
Vivien is a larger than life red headed actor/drama queen who is more
Auntie Mame-like than a traditional homebound mother. In the Isaacs’ world the theatre comes first.
Crashing this “announcement party” comes Pandora Isaacs
(Tanna Frederick), the younger sister of Betsy who is just getting over a
recent breakup, and is now seeking solace and attention. The sisters have been distant toward one
another for some time. “Pandy”, as the
family calls her, is also an actor along the lines of her expansive and
over-the-top mother. Betsy views her
family as people who can’t get in touch with reality.
The weekend provides lots of time for talk, and lots of
opportunities to drink lots of wine.
Various family members and relatives, chime in from time to time,
occasionally roiling the waters. Subtly
is not always foremost in Jaglom films, so one awaits the obligatory scenes of
new fiancé James coming under the spell of Pandy. Fasten your seat belts, it’s going to be a bumpy weekend once
Betsy catches wind of the shenanigans.
Jaglom claims writer credit on the comedy and rightly so,
but he also allows his actors, from time to time, to indulge in improv
dialogue. The actors love it. The audience sometimes finds itself
wondering if they missed something along the way.
For all its ennui (very Chekovian, by the way), “Just 45
Seconds From Broadway” has vividly lush photography and richly textured sets
and lighting, thanks to cinematographers Hanania Baer and Nancy Schbeiber who
ease the pain of some of that ennui.
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