just watch it!

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

I was unsure how to review this movie, just as I've been unsure how to review ensemble pieces like GRAND CANYON and THE JOY LUCK CLUB. Some movies are so sprawling, so character driven, and so complex, that it's difficult for me to write a review that makes sense, but I tried anyway with IN MEMORY OF MY FATHER, a film that I've been waiting to see at least since 2003.Let me first say that without a doubt, IN MEMORY...has been worth the long wait, and that I really enjoyed every minute of it, and in doing so have gotten to know the unique storytelling style of Christopher Jaymes, director, writer and actor in this refreshing, well-edited dramedy about the death of a Hollywood movie mogul, the three sons he leaves behind, and the colorful characters who attend the wake.Chris (Jaymes), having been bribed by the father offscreen to capture his death and the subsequent family gathering on video, hires not only several professional cameramen, but expects friends like Pat (a hysterically hilariously profane Pat Healy) to help too.I deduced early on that some of the characters not only despise one another, but come across as extremely callous regarding the death of the old man. The critics who described some of these people as "narcissistic, shallow and unlikeable" may not be far off the mark. As a matter of fact, a few characters are downright hateful, in particular, Chris, who carries a very visible hostility inside him around certain members of family.But what these critics failed to comment on (or maybe even to notice) are the delicately explored family dynamics. This is dysfunction as gleefully presented as you could ever hope to see. The documentary of Dad's end of life is nothing more than an unwanted chore to Chris, and although he doesn't verbalize it outright, all you have to do is read the angry grimace on his face when he so much as thinks of his father or speaks to Dad's latest trophy girlfriend Judy, who is only 26 years old, and, as one would expect, an extravagant spender of her beloved's money.When Uncle Aled, Dad's brother (played wonderfully by the late Tom Carroll) arrives to pay his respects, he is greeted with distilled cordiality by Matt and Jeremy, and with the usual nastiness of Chris, the youngest of the brothers, the only one of the three who never forgave Aled, or Mom, for running off together and breaking up the "happy" family.Aled has a daughter, Meadow (Meadow Sisto) who is the product of his affair with the boys' mother. She is the ex-girlfriend of Pat, who naturally rattles endlessly on about how he doesn't want to see her, or her new boyfriend Eric (Eric Michael Cole), who unexpectedly spends the majority of the evening in the company of Jeremy, and they have some very entertaining discussions before deciding to do some X and change from their clothes into bathrobes.In the meantime, Chris has another friend, actually an ex, Nicholle (Nicholle Tom), to help him with the documentary by interviewing visitors at the wake. Why Chris wanted Christine (Christine Lakin) to be interviewed is anyone's guess, since she "didn't really know" Dad. Christine is a teenager who has been "hanging out" with Chris, who is in his late 20s.The entire cast shines in this film. I have not seen such a fun performance from Meadow Sisto since CROSSING FIELDS. I already mentioned how fun it was to watch Healy throw his tantrums. Jaymes is excellent as the equal parts pathetic and demonic Chris. Keeslar and Greer were great together. Even more fun were the exchanges between Cole and Sisto as Eric and Jeremy, who, influenced as much by his wife's recent behavior as the ecstasy he's taken, embarks with Eric on a very interesting little "trip".Where is all this going as Dad begins to go into rigor-mortis upstairs? Well, it's not going anywhere in particular, save the depths of these characters, all of whom I've found profoundly interesting.The film doesn't take the obvious route. The three sons appear unconcerned that Dad is dead. They're drugging, screwing and even singing irreverent songs at the piano, hurling insults at Dad's poor older friends, throwing hissy fits left and right, until at one point, Uncle Aled expresses his disgust out loud. No worries. Chris has a perfectly devilish comeback should Aled dare to open his mouth.It is here where you start to wonder, Gee, Chris really is angry. And hurt. If he didn't love his Dad, would he act like this? No, he wouldn't. That is the plot of this film. No matter what the story, and you won't have it spoonfed to you, in the end, the two older boys are doing their best to accept their Dad the way he was and move on in their own troubled lives, while Chris still struggles with unresolved anger and hatred.The comedy, beautifully timed and perfectly, wonderfully, gleefully delivered, had me in stitches. The drama is less obvious, hidden skillfully underneath the raucous laughter. And a film this irreverent would seem as cold as ice at first glance. But there is warmth, in surprising places. For instance, who knew that big-spending Judy would be so sad over Dad's death that she would lock herself in the room with him and put lip balm over his chapped mouth while talking to him about her day as though he was as alive as ever? This film made me dig deep, and made me think very hard, which is why I love it.

I saw this a couple weeks ago at a screening by the Desert Film Society in Palm Springs. We were fortunate to have the film's Director/Writer/Editor/Actor Christopher James along with the films co-editor and fellow actor Eric Michael Cole and actor Pat Healey on hand to present the film and take Q&A at the film's conclusion. For the 17 commenter's on this film so far here at IMDb who gave this a 10 even James himself likely doesn't consider it a 10 since he said he planned to make additional edits to the the current screened version. This film is reminiscent at first of Jim McBride's 1967 film called David Hotzman's Diary about a fictional documentary of a character named David Holtzman who films a week in his life. It appears like the film is an actual documentary but everything is scripted. Blair Witch would of course use a similar technique years later. This starts out a little awkward but then gets rolling where you realize this is a well drafted script but you still wonder how much may be ad libbing which may or may not distract from the viewer of the film. I found a slight inconsistency in the films setting and an unexplained element of the films premise and a couple other minor elements that I would rather not write a spoiler about so as to not bring up questions before a lot of people have had a chance to view this film. It features a great young cast of actors, some of which have an extensive body of film and television work besides James, Cole and Healy including Judy Greer, Nicolle Tom, Matt Keeslar, Monet Mazur, Jeremy Sisto and Christine Larkin among the large ensemble cast. I liked Nicolle Tom and her character the most in this cast and would have liked to have maybe a little more of an expansion of that character here. Daniel Teper does the original music soundtrack and the music of Scottish band Belle & Sebastian are featured throughout the film. Some in my audience noted an offense to the film's rapid fire swear words in the film's beginning which may have distracted from the film initially although it isn't like that throughout the film. It's a good script and good acting and although a low budget independent film it looks good. I would give it an 7.5 out of 10.

In Memory of My Father is heavy on dialogue and populated with a lot of characters. Those seem like big risks for a such a small movie. One bad performance or one false conversation could bring down the whole thing. But screenwriter Jaymes and his cast mates nail the characters and the dialogue. Director Jaymes keeps it all moving and makes the relationships clear.More importantly, the movie entertains. Dad's death puts everyone on edge, so nobody behaves well, and nobody is particularly likable, at least initially. Though over time, the characters grow on you until eventually you find yourself within one or more of them. All that remains to be seen is whether Jaymes parlays his ultimate success (it'll happen) into a career of outstanding actor showcases like an American Mike Leigh, or whether he'll squander his talent in the Hollywood grist mill like Edward Burns.

Having been dragged to many indie films, some good and some bad, I was somewhat hesitant to see this film when my friend suggested it tonight. Thankfully, it was worth the whole 10 smackaroos to watch a seamlessly edited mockumentary (i guess that is what it is?) that delves into America's affluent youth (I grew around kids like these...). Anywho, well worth it and spread the word about this young up and coming talent! And he's a looker too! :) The dialogue, in the words of the writer / director (there in the audience), was tailored to the actor. If you notice, the actors all use their first names in this movie. At times, it was VERY difficult to tell whether it was scripted or improvised (Chris said it was all scripted, yet he asked the actors to improvise a little... 85/15). Regardless, the actors came through with great performances and I can't wait to see what will come of this cool, hip, intelligent film.