SLFS 2011 Review: JOINT BODY

JOINT BODY is the newest film from indie writer and director Brian Jun, whose 2006 film STEEL CITY earned him the Sundance Channel Emerging Director award at the St. Louis International Film Festival. The film was shot just across the Mississippi River in Illinois, Jun’s home state.

The story takes place over seven days in a small town, following Nick (Mark Pellegrino) as he stumbles through an uncertain future. Having served seven years in prison, Nick is released on parole, with the condition that he relinquishes all rights of custody over his now teenage daughter to his ex-wife. Nick settles into a shabby halfway house and secures a job welding for a fabricator. Nick’s brother Dean (Ryan O’Nan) is now a cop on the vice squad, fresh out of the academy. In an awkward attempt to rekindle some connection that never exists between him and his brother, Dean supplies Nick with a throwaway revolver as protection.

As Nick slowly acclimates to life outside of prison, he meets an exotic dancer named Michelle (Alicia Witt) who lives in his building. With nothing left to lose, Nick proposes he and Michelle get coffee, with about as much confidence as a high school nerd asking the prom queen to dance. As it turns out, Michelle has little more to lose and they form the fragile beginning of a blind relationship, but their relationship is turned on its head shortly after it begins when someone from Michelle’s past returns unexpectedly, resulting in a violent incident putting Michelle and Nick down the wrong path once more.

Brian Jun, in my eyes, is already showing signs of a master storyteller. JOINT BODY is unpretentious, down to Earth and unassuming. The human drama he weaves is like a minimalist tapestry with the finest details. The suspense that builds in JOINT BODY is a slow burning sensation, taking a back seat to Jun’s development of tactile characters the viewer can connect with, only enhanced by performances that should result in a heightened respect for these two lead actors, as well as the director.

Mark Pellegrino, most recognizable for his television work on shows including Dexter and Lost, delivers fully as a misunderstood ex-con who only wants to live what little is left of his life without being noticed, but can’t shake the stigma now attached to his presence. Alicia Witt, best known for her role on the TV series Friday Night Lights and her recent role in PEEP WORLD, gives the audience one more reason to love her, embracing her role as a stripper, but adding so much to the character’s well-written role to lift Michelle out of the stereotype and into the hearts of the audience. Michelle is a good woman, stuck in a dead end situation by an immature decision made as a teenager.

JOINT BODY is shot with a gritty, almost sepia-tinged color palette, giving the story an added sense of decay. Layer the crumbling appearance of the small town on top of this and the film carries with it a subconscious tone of impending tragedy. Whereas the average reaction to such a setup would be for Nick to defy the law and set out to reconnect with his daughter, Jun takes the story in an entirely different direction. Nick makes every effort to do things right, while Michelle inadvertently pulls Nick into a worst-case scenario like a magnet for bad luck, despite her best intentions.

What I love most about JOINT BODY is how Brian Jun makes everything about this story beautiful, not in a storybook perfect sort of way, but in a way that takes all the bad things and unhappy feelings that are inherent in life and shows that even the darker gray shades of the human experience can have a poetically somber beauty. Where Hollywood would inject melodrama, Jun relies marvelously on realism and authenticity. This element of the film is present throughout the film, leading up to a partially open-ended, bittersweet conclusion that is as heartbreaking as it is fittingly appropriate.

I am proclaiming JOINT BODY as one of my favorite films of 2011. Within an hour of first seeing the film, I found myself with an overwhelming urge to revisit it a second time. I wanted to reconnect with Nick and Michelle, almost as if I wanted to make sure they were all right. Few fictional films actually make me feel like I actually care about the characters, but JOINT BODY does this effortlessly, leaving a deep and lasting impression with me that keeps resurfacing in my mind. If this is something you enjoy experiencing in a film, or never have and would like to know what it’s like, go see JOINT BODY and tally this as one more reason why independent film needs and deserves your support!

JOINT BODY will screen during the 2011 Stella Artois St. Louis Filmmaker’s Showcase at 7:00PM on Sunday, August 14th at the Tivoli Theatre.