Writer and director Adam Reid’s first feature film, Hello Lonesome, premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival this week; I could think of no more fitting a way to attend the screening than alone. To my surprise, however, I wandered out of the theatre a little more confident in humanity and in people’s awkward and unpredictable relations with one another than I went in. I actually think I might have fallen in love with people’s awkward and unpredictable relations with one another within the course of my ninety-minute movie date.
Reid’s independent narrative is essentially composed of three mutually exclusive narratives masterfully woven together with a common thread: each character’s search for connection. The picture is beautifully cast, winning Best Ensemble Performance in the Narrative Competition at the festival, and follows unique and complex individuals in brilliantly comic, yet still relatable situations. The stories are refreshing amid the rosy unrealities of the omnipresent mainstream romantic comedy of today because there is a quirkiness and grounding to each tale.
Actress Lynn Cohen plays a candid old widow who loses her license and the freedom she relished in being behind the wheel along with it—a role Reid specifically wrote for Cohen. When she is forced be dependent on her socially awkward neighbor (James Urbaniak) for transportation, the two find an unlikely symbiotic comfort in each other’s company. A bizarre relationship you can’t help but root for.
Harry Chase has his onscreen debut as an isolated, self-absorbed voiceover artist trying to make amends with his daughter after he realizes his only other bond is with his mailman. You are probably very familiar with Chase’s previous work as a an actual voiceover artist off screen—among other roles, he has been the voice of Captain Morgan for years (seriously, pay attention next time you see a commercial). But despite his inexperience in front of the camera, Chase fills out his role fittingly as Mickey Rourke did his in The Wrestler. Reid turns Chase into a epic image of Lonesome when he situates the actor unaccompanied in his Jacuzzi midday, wearing a American flag print speedo, and target shooting objects off his fence. Yet the audience unexpectedly finds itself attached to this sorry scene of man, too.
Most beautiful is the romantic story that unfolds between two attractive twenty or thirty-something’s who meet online (where else?). Typically I would categorize this as the sore thumb of the three narratives: the perfect man and the cliché love story that Hollywood eats up, but are non-existent in the real world you and I are forced to live in. Except I can’t make such a claim. As it turns out, the story is the most genuine narrative of the three as it is based on the true story of Reid’s late sister, making the developing plot all the more emotionally involved.
While the occasional echo in the sound or the odd sense of depth in the image will remind the audience of the low-budget, amateur status of the film, you have to hand it to Reid and his crew of five for the resourceful product they were able to create in a 15-day shoot with a budget of about $50,000. Reid is a touching storyteller and is undeniably talented in the art of humor. Endearing and personal, Hello Lonesome is a successful debut for Mr. Reid. It looks like this young man may have a bright future, and I am anxious to see what he has next to offer.
Reid said the film will soon be available on Netflix, but aside from the other film festivals he has lined up, he is unsure of what is in store next for the movie.
Check out the trailer below:
