The 12 Lives of Sissy Carlyle

It never ceases to amaze me how indie filmmakers jump over the endless hurdles that is micro-budget filmmaking. The story has a certain charm to it that almost anyone can recognize; I highly recommend this to anyone that loves and supports the art of independent filmmaking.

"Sissy Carlyle" is a very fun indie about a young woman who escapes a life stuck managing her deceased parents' Atlanta bookshop by keeping 11 journals of the wonderful adventures she could be having if she had just been born as someone else - as a Cosmonaut, an international spy, a huntress - all while a 12th journal, that would be about her own life, remains blank.

But when Sissy finds herself irresistibly drawn to a cute local artist - and starts reconnecting to her estranged, ne'er-do-well brother - Sissy finds herself drawn out and finds that having something at stake in the real world can contain all the drama of a fictional one.

I love seeing a classic city through an indie lens, and Sissy's fictional lives are a fun indulgence. But my favorite parts of this movie are and - who has a McConaughey vibe - and, of course April Billingsley, who, in Sissy, plays a dozen roles with subtlety, intrigue, and a real sense of fun.

A great, sunlit afternoon, put it on with the kids-type film.

A soaring score and beautiful cinematography embroider a story about a group of twenty-somethings adrift in Atlanta. At the heart of the tale is an estranged pair of siblings traumatized by their parents' sudden death a few years before. Both brother and sister are quirky as well as grief-stricken. He is hard to pin down about his various, questionable pursuits. She lives in her imagination, describing fantastic exploits in her journals, which he reads without permission. The two eventually open their hearts to each other's imperfect selves. In today's trauma-filled world, that's a happy ending!

Sissy Carlyle is one of the coolest chicks you might ever meet...the trouble is no one knows it, including those in her circle of trust - her closest allies. Her inner life is private but far richer than the life she has allowed herself to live. We discover the real Sissy through her 12 journals - and she is a pistol! Eleven of those journals chronicle her fantasies of adventure, risk taking, and, yes, hot romance. Here, in her exposed fantasy lives, we are privy to the real Sissy - her suave social interactions, her range of eccentric behavior, and her craving for bizarre escapades. The 12th journal is where she documents her real life and those pages are as blank as her days are void...until she meets a man who seems to have an inner life even more colossal than her own. His peculiar views and stories begin to influence Sissy's life in the real world. For the first time since her parents' untimely deaths, she may actually have something to write in that 12th journal. A really "feel good" experience. I enjoyed watching it (twice!)

Was all set for an interesting, entertaining evening. Five minutes in they dropped a gratuitous MF bomb... at which point I hit the stop button. When will these people ever learn: they won't lose viewers by omitting obscene language. They will lose viewers by including it.