I Will Follow

I Will Follow is a nice movie in that it deals with a relatable situation with likable characters. It's directed competently, and the soundtrack fits. The acting is all professional and at times affecting. It is as well made as many movies with a much bigger budget.

The problem is the story relies on too many cliches. Everyone is beautiful or handsome, for starters. That's not to say beautiful and handsome people don't have problems, but the movie gets that hollow, plastic Hollywood feel despite the attempt to be real and personal. There has to be a romantic love angle, too, as well as the whole sisterhood thing. It feels very formulaic, like one of those books in the rack at the airport with a slick cover written by someone you've never heard of and that looks just like the ones next to it.

Oddly, this contrasts with elements that might have fit an earthier story with earthier characters. For instance, there's casual Black racism against other groups -- a "joke" about finding Mexicans at Home Depot falls flat not just for its latent bigotry but because these too perfect characters -- everyone is impeccably made up and carefully dressed even in casual clothes -- seem more like they're endorsing a product on TV than just regular people with everyday problems. There's enough pretty teeth to be a Pepsodent commercial. These are obviously also rich, connected people, so of course the main character has tasteful and successful gay friends. And the main character has got to be using men, expecting each to be there for her while she's getting some on the side. The movie wants to have its cake and eat it, too.

I get it. To make a splash in Hollywood -- an insular and largely shallow and performative industry out of touch with most of the rest of the world -- you have to get noticed. And ugly poor people never trump good looking Hollywood people "getting real."

So, "I Will Follow" works as an audition for writer/director Ana Duvernay, who obviously used it to good effect to establish her Hollywood career. But in the end, this movie seems to trade flash for substance. The power of the story is robbed by its artificiality. In this, it's more like a porno than a true drama, and like those, it doesn't stand out much from the rest just like it.

The person who enjoys this film will be 1) emotionally mature 2) patient 3)appreciates complex themes.

Like George Clooney's recent works, this film is quiet and takes some time to develop and answer key questions of plot. Viewers will be deeply rewarded with a life-affirming experience. The film holds very universal themes tenderly in its hands. You will feel full and inspired to act on what you've learned here. There are so many themes: caring for loved ones, community, letting go and moving on, courage to use one's gifts, generational wisdom, regret over missed opportunities and a few others I won't list here.

This is a film worth owning. Go to it!

Ava Duvernay's I Will Follow is a beautiful, touching film about a character grappling with the recent death of someone very close to her. The details of the relationship and the situation are given to the audience in bits and pieces, until we eventually complete the puzzle. But by then, we'll also have watched this tension-filled relationship with another relative, a moving conversation with a neighbor and a beautiful encounter with someone, ending on the rooftop (my personal favorite). Complicated relationships between mother and daughter and cousins and nephews were painted very well. For me the film drags a little by the time we get to a certain love interest, though it is my personal preference to stay with the focus of the first half rather than what the film is leading me to.

Not bad for a first film from a great director. I admire how Duvernay creates a world of innate decency and goodwill, with nary a butthole in sight. But therein lies the problem, in my opinion. Too much of this movie is bathed in a feel good, glowing, let's have a cleansing cry and get on with our lives mood that at times comes perilously close to Lifetime TV. The film needs more conflict as in the sharp quarrel between the cousins over the aunt/mother's cancer treatment, by far the best scene. And someone should have shot the piano player who provided that syrupy, intrusive score that sounds like an ad for a hospice care facility in Malibu. Give it a generous B minus as a too conventional start to a decidedly unconventional directorial career.

All this has been done before, there is nothing new or original here.