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Let's not beat around the bush with what director Noah Baumbach is trying to achieve. Jay Kelly it's a candid love letter to George Clooney. new Netflix movie self-indulgent to the point of rubbing it in our faces, and I'm as surprised as everyone else that I don't have a problem with it.
In fact, I think it's this indulgence that means the film can exist and evoke the emotions it needs to. Clooney and the character he plays, Kelly, are essentially one synonymous figure, gently poking fun at the sadness that runs through Hollywood's veins. As they say, you need to be your own cheerleader and see where it takes you.
Although I expected other films at the London Film Festival to be emotionally draining (namely Hamnetas all the critics and their dogs have suggested), Jay Kelly delivered a meditative grief that his programmed rivals could not. To achieve this goal, nothing too obvious or tactless happens, it just requires a lot of sitting in the moment, thinking and processing.
I would even say that Jay Kelly this is a movie that many of us need to see this year. I don't know what the state of permanent Mercury retrograde will be in 2025, but people are collectively experiencing it more now than ever. To be grounded is to bring us back to ourselves, and for Jay/George the answers are not quite what he hoped for.
Jay Kelly Isn't Just an Ode to George Clooney, It's a Regrettable Choice
Let's set the scene: After filming his latest big picture, Jay Kelly thinks he wants to retire from the business. When his longtime mentor suddenly dies, he comes face to face with things from his past that he would rather forget. As his daughters make their way in the world, Kelly impulsively decides to follow his youngest to Europe, putting the lives of everyone around him in danger.
Love him or hate him, Clooney is the epitome of old school Hollywood. He has the voice, charm and physique of his former peers and still can't make a group of people swoon at his feet at the age of 64. Is he the best actor in the world? No. Were all his films successful? Absolutely not. And yet it remains golden.
Kelly is exactly the same. By his own admission, he is not the best actor and has not made the best decisions, professionally or personally. It makes him wonder if his 35-year career really meant anything. Kelly's home life isn't much better, as he is now separated from his eldest daughter, Jessica (Riley Keough), and his youngest, Daisy (Grace Edwards), is determined to get back on her feet. As he soberly tells us: “All my memories are in films. That's all they are – memories.”
This is where Clooney and Kelly differ. While we have no idea what's going on in Clooney's personal life (nor should we), Kelly's life is brutally torn apart. We follow his life through flashbacks to his youth, adulthood, and recent past, while present-day Kelly observes what is happening in the moment. It is clear that he never thought about introspection, running through life like a bull in a china shop.
Truth be told, he screwed up almost everything without even realizing it. Along with his daughters, friend and manager Ron (Adam Sandler) believes their relationship is goal-oriented, while Kelly views it as transactional, and publicist Liz (Laura Dern) is one crisis away from jumping ship. Kelly decides that she doesn't really know who he is, and everyone feels the consequences.
But while this is a huge inconvenience for literally everyone who has ever met Jay Kelly, it is beneficial for us as viewers. Having examined his career, personal choices and parenting in detail, we have no choice but to face our own lives. Can you truly achieve work-life balance? Will our children resent us for how our careers are pulling us in other directions? Are we making the right decisions for ourselves and our loved ones?
Life likes to remind us that there are no clear answers to this question. But watching Kelly struggle to grasp her responsibility provides the perfect emotional punch. How Jay Kelly continues, we become one with him, laugh, cry and solve his problems as if they were our own. When it comes down to it, it is what it is, and Baumbach knows how to connect us to that feeling.
Jay Kelly is not just about Jay Kelly
As you'd expect, Clooney is a duck out of water when it comes to his performance, but he's not the only man behind Broken Man. Sandler returns to the balance of comedy and drama as the long-suffering Ron, risking his heart to be openly beaten by Kelly's self-delusion. He's the perfect blend of tough and gentle, and we're rooting for him to stand up for the quality of life we know he deserves.
Liz doesn't suffer fools, and that's the counterbalance needed in an industry eager to tell Kelly what he wants to hear. While I absolutely hated watching Jim Broadbent die for the 137,465th time in film (playing Kelly's mentor Peter), Riley Keough is my standout supporting role.
As a woman in great pain, where she is in life and how she chooses to live matters most in understanding who Kelly is. She desperately wants her father to listen to her feelings, but at the same time she explicitly states that she does not want to be a constant presence in his life. It's too late for Kelly, and the emotionally wrenching phone call scene proves it.
Of course, Baumbach doesn't do anything exciting or fresh with his vision and direction, and part of me is annoyed because I love a movie about the most documented genre of all time (men in Hollywood). But I liked how Jay Kelly made me re-evaluate my life, re-evaluate what's going on around me, and remind me that it takes a village to become a decent person – it's amazing how easy it is to forget about self-reflection.
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