James White

James White is one of my favorite films. The whole thing is such an emotional roller coaster with powerful gut punches of emotion. There is such genius behind this film it feels criminal how underrated this movie is. Everyone, from the actors to the directors to the editors, gave 1000%, and I couldn't recommend a film more.

I just did not expect... that. Great respect to Josh Mond. I think he took on an incredibly heavy film that managed to feel incredibly visceral in its portrayal. I could physically feel it, its last 30 minutes probably being the most uncomfortable film-watching experience of any film from 2015. What makes it work so well are the performances. There's such an innate authenticity and raw power to the cast's work here. I've liked Christopher Abbott from what I've seen him in, most notably Girls. I never would have thought he was capable of what he did here though. Definitely one of the best performances of last year. Not a fun film to watch at all, but holding that as a criticism would be a complete disservice to everything the film does well.

James White follows a twenty-something year old man who lives with his mother and, after the passing of his father, begins to struggle with the loss. During this time his mother's cancer returns and he tries to take care of her while balancing his own personal relationships and emotions.

To start off all the actors are great. Everyone was pretty genuine in their line delivery and even in the way they moved. They were all perfect, and their characters were great too. The main character and his girlfriend have great chemistry almost immediately, and everyone else is interesting and realistic, making it all the more shocking when something horrible happens. And that happens a lot. This movie can be very hard to watch at times, and not in a bad way. It's hard to watch because you can't stand to see such great characters go through such bad things, and when a movie can make you feel for the characters then it's definitely done something right

Surprisingly, this movie features a handful of lengthy shots. While some of them contain lots of dialogue, some of them also contain little to no dialogue and barely any movement. While it may not seem difficult or impressive, these actors had to stay in character sometimes for a full five minutes and just sit with each other and exchange a few words, maybe move around a little. And all of it was very natural. It's subtle things like this that make this movie stand out from other depressing family dramas.

At points, however, this movie could be a little slow. There isn't a lot of music, and while that isn't necessarily a bad thing it can make it difficult to keep your attention focused when the only thing emitting from the television is a soundless scene of someone barely moving. It generally didn't take away from the movie, it actually added to it a little, but it was still there. Also, the outcome of the movie was a little on the predictable side, but it didn't distract too much from how incredibly well-made the movie is.

Overall James White is just fantastic. It's filled with great characters, great actors, and some horribly good realism. While it can be a little slow and a little predictable, it doesn't take away from the movie enough to make it even remotely close to being a displeasure to watch. In the end I'd certainly recommend this movie.

If you are looking for a film that you will learn something from you have chosen the wrong one. That's not a knock on the quality of this piece, but it is a fact. This is the difficult to sit through story of a reckless young NYC man, with a violent temper, who has never been able to get his act together and is now in the midst of experiencing the death of his father, who he was not close to and hadn't seen much of, and his mother who is dying of cancer who he is very devoted to and vice versa. He takes care of her the best he can, when booze, drugs and women don't get in the way and when things get really bad he never leaves her side. The principal reason to watch this very sad piece is the excellent writing and the outstanding performances of Christopher Abbott and Cynthia Nixon. One forgets how capable Nixon is since we rarely see her in anything other than her role of Miranda in Sex and the City and more recently And Just Like That. She has a long history in theater and she is an excellent actress who is highly underused. Abbott on the other hand is a little bit newer to the game, but works a lot and has offered some fascinating performances in small independent films and he has impressed me greatly including here. The man is just a natural born actor who never gives a false note in anything I have seen him in. This is an actor who wants to do creative things outside of the Hollywood scene. I also appreciated Kid Cudi as James' best friend. So, watch this if you like fine acting and are in the mood to be sad.

I often rewatch films that I like a lot; I won't be rewatching this one. But if you haven't seen it, most definitely watch it. It's compact and lean; there's nothing extraneous. It's like a super-fit person with minimal body fat. The acting is superb all around; the screen play is real; the mood appropriately dark and almost hopeless. I have always thought that Cynthia Nixon is a versatile actor and this certainly proves it. I have to say I didn't know much about Christopher Abbott before seeing him in this film but he's extremely talented. I found myself rooting for him at the end and had saw glimmer of hope that he was starting to get it together and would continue down that path. It made me want to watch more films with him in them, so that's exactly what I'm going to do.