SAN FRANCISCO JEWISH FILM FESTIVAL | SFJFF 2010

Loner, dissenter, flirt, enemy, lover, that’s Shelly Brown, a 23-year-old alienated urban misfit recently released from a psychiatric hospital. She’s back in New York City seeking solace and affirmation but finding little of either. Stella Schnabel (daughter of painter/filmmaker Julian Schnabel) brilliantly evokes Shelly’s struggles to lead an uncompromised life in a very compromised world in a performance that won her the Best Actress award at Method Fest 2009. Tumultuous friendships, failed love affairs and disastrous acting auditions all await Shelly as she draws further and further into a go-nowhere lifestyle induced by her own destructive behavior and fears of further loss. Director Ry Russo-Young (Orphans), aptly using a multitude of different formats (HD, 16mm, Super 8, DV), presents a fractured character study of a contemporary young Jewish woman at odds with the world and herself. Balancing order and abstraction, verité and high theatricality, Russo-Young applies a daring and emotionally honest style to the material reminiscent of indie filmmaking pioneers John Cassavetes and Agnès Varda. In fact, the character of Shelly Brown arose through an intensive collaboration between director and actress involving a series of videotaped interviews. The result is a tough, funny and heartbreaking central character and a film that paints in vivid detail an evocative portrait of a contemporary rebel.—Joshua Moore

· 2009 Gotham Award Winner: Best Film Not Playing at a Theater Near You
· Official Selection 2009 Sundance Film Festival

Reviews