Her Name Was Jo

No special effect, simple and effective road trip of an 10 year old trying to find her real father. The discussions of the 2 friends are profound and bring some philosophy to this world.

At first I was kind of reluctant to watch an hour and a half during movie about two ten year old girls. But the film pretty much captivated me right from the start. Mainly due to it's really nice paced dreamy but realistic filming, ànd the heartwarming solid acting of the two starring roles. In contrast to their ages, their performance showed real friendship, persistence through willpower and maturity so incredibly well I could hardly believe it.

The story too was very well written. It was able to show realism parallel to symbolism without disturbing, no even strenghtening the main theme line.

During the movie, the acting and story increase to build a symbiotic relationship and keep lifting one and other to a higher level, and create such a strong final outcome.

Most definitly worth watching.

If you like this movie, be sure to check out 'The Dynamiter' as well..

I hadn't any idea what this was about and didn't read anything here first, so pardon my ignorance, but I did not realize that the friend was imaginary until very late in the game. I thought this character a puzzlement due to poor writing. The laughs on me, I guess. This is a curious little film. On one hand, the events of this ten year old girl's journey alone (surprise!) across the country is beyond preposterous, but if you put reality aside, a lot of it is interesting & touching. It offers a very realistic performance by a youngster named Mary Cate Williams who carries this little film about a young girl in search of her father, and seemingly just about any woman who would offer her motherly love, as she has no parents and comes from a very troubled upbringing making her both way older, wiser and hard than her number of years on earth would normally allow. It's a difficult film to rate. On one hand it's touching, but on the other, it's unbelievable. The way the film is presented (backflashes near the end of the film to previously shown scenes with the friend no longer in the shot), I don't think viewers were supposed to know in advance that her friend was not real, so shame on IMDB for revealing that in their description. I'm glad I didn't read it. BTW, the sound quality is awful.

It's a movie you have to be patient with, there are a lot of loose ends, and some things that happen that maybe need a tad more explanation. Some scenes are maybe a little far fetched, The acting was quality, characters relatable. The plot stays on track mostly. It's not as neat and tidy as a big budget film, but it just isnt, and that's ok. I couldn't do it in one sitting, but I'm glad I came back to it. Not many films can fool me, this one was able, and I was delighted. Spoilers will ruin this film for you.

Back when my own children were 10 years old or so we made home movies with a portable VHS recorder. The kids were not trained actors and that is very clear. Same with this small movie, the two 10-yr-old girls who carry the story are mostly adequate but my wife and I were frustrated at times by their inability to speak clearly, this caused us to miss some of the dialog. Plus the background music was mostly too loud for the rest of the sounds.

Still I found it to be a worthwhile viewing. Jo is 10, with no mother and a stepdad drunk or drugged all the time in their little home on a small lake. She has to wake him up in the mornings. Until one morning he was unable to wake up. Coincidentally when summer break starts. Jo thinks her real father is an entertainer in Los Angeles so she figures she needs to make the cross-country trip, along with her "friend".

There is a significance to use of "her name WAS" in the title, part of her reinventing her life was to begin to use of her name Josephine. Her trip is a harrowing experience, but of course all fiction. The young actress is fine except for her often unintelligible dialog.

The end credits show that this was a family affair for the writer/director/producer & lyrics writer. I presume most of the "actors" are family and friends, from the last names shown.

No, by normal movie standards this is a pretty poor movie but I am glad I watched it, for its making me think about the plight that kids like this have when they find themselves in an unstable homelife. We found it streaming on Amazon.