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Lonesome JimDirected by Steve Buscemi, Lonesome Jim receives a belated UK release in 2008, three years after it appeared at the 2005 Sundance Film Festival.
In that time, Buscemi directed his fourth film, Interview, a remake of late Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh's 2003 release. Lonesome Jim, which was written by James C Strouse, who went on to pen the credible Iraq drama Grace Is Gone, feels much more in line with Buscemi's earlier work, particularly his John Cassavetes-inspired debut Trees Lounge.
Even more low-key than that 1996 film, this tells the story of Jim (Affleck), a direction-less 27 year-old who returns to his native Indiana with his proverbial tail between his legs. An aspiring writer, it swiftly emerges that his move to New York was a failure - and he only kept body and soul together through walking dogs and waiting tables. Moving back in with his parents (Cassel and Kay Place) and his disaffected brother Tim (Corrigan), he tries to pick his life back up - but only succeeds in falling in with his drug-dealing uncle (Boone Junior), who has taken to calling himself 'Evil'.
A film all about mood (or perhaps that should be 'moods'), Jim seems to rival Tim when it comes to moping about the house. Though such is Jim's ability to talk down to his sibling, who has been suffering from his own marital and career difficulties, Tim eventually drives his car (off-screen) into a tree.
While his brother is in hospital with two broken legs, Jim meets a single-mother nurse named Anika (Tyler) who works there, and they embark on a curious affair. Meanwhile, Tim is forced to take on Jim's duties, from coaching an elementary school girls' basketball team to working at their parents' ladder factory.
The film introduces a rather unfortunate 'thriller' element, as the Feds descend on Evil's drug-dealing operation (out of the ladder factory), but it's not enough to derail Buscemi's intent. Such is the quiet tenor of this character piece, it's quite possible that the film was never really on any rails in the first place.
Ambling along, much like its characters, Lonesome Jim harks back to the bygone era of 1970s Hollywood, when films like Jerry Schatzberg's Scarecrow were the norm. Buscemi certainly captures that nihilistic tone very well, the brooding style of his film at odds with many independent movies produced today.
As for the cast, it's what you'd expect. Buscemi regulars Cassel and Boone Junior liven up proceedings, while the ever-excellent Corrigan is glorious as Tim. Only Tyler feels short-changed with a rather functional character. As for Affleck, one assumes he's the reason why Lonesome Jim has been given this belated push, to capitalise on his Oscar-nominated turn in The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. His rather passive performance here is nowhere near as gripping, but nevertheless he's ideally cast in what is a quietly disturbing piece of work.
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