We rarely get the films of John Jost, one of the best American directors, a true patriot and connoisseur of his country. Cheap, sometimes filmed semi-amateur way, they fascinate with their atmosphere, inner integrity and humanism. Jost’s work is indivisible neither in style nor in themes. From the very beginning he approached ontological problems through seemingly random, everyday sketches. Moreover, in his films, America appears different, without any gloss and exaggerations, and Jost himself is certainly fascinated by the life of the middle class, although he invariably criticizes for the inconsistency of thinking.
This Jost film was shot for some $2,000, somewhere in the ditch of the American film industry, and the author is already habitually responsible for almost all aspects of filmmaking. Perhaps he is related to one of Jost’s most famous films, The Bed You Sleep In, a focus on the family as a unit of society. The father of the family, Jeff, a small businessman, a typical philistine who believes in television propaganda, his wife serves as his secretary, one of the sons of the rolling field, unemployed, living with a girlfriend and unable to find a place in life, and the second serves in the army, fights in Iraq and does not appear in front of the audience throughout the film, like the daughter from the Bed in which you sleep. But he is the Godot, whom elderly parents are waiting for as the meaning of their lives, and whose death destroys the routine, but in some ways human family order. With his death, all the threads are broken and there is no way back.
The international success of John Jost was provided by a brief collaboration with producer Henry S. Rosenthal, who agreed to sponsor deliberately non-commercial films, socio-philosophical avant-garde canvases of the master. He always led an independent, non-conformist lifestyle, did not study anywhere, begged, was imprisoned for refusing to fight in Vietnam and always did not part with the camera, conducting a dialogue with society and his audience through the cinema. The great formalist gift of the director attracted film aesthetes who appreciated a stylish image. For example, Josta among his favorite directors called Quentin Tarantino, although aesthetically Jost is rather his antithesis. A deep knowledge of the life of one-story America makes Jost an amazing realist, and the desire to ascend from the prose of life to philosophical poetry - an independent artist with his vision of the world. At the same time, Jost prefers not to openly express his position, and only on rare occasions, as here, after the final credits, expresses his civil opposition to the policies of Bush Jr., the war in Iraq and calls on law enforcement agencies to investigate the activities of the President and his entourage. Although his film and without any journalistic text vividly depicts how the games of politicians affect the lives of ordinary people. The state, created for man, uses it as a thing, and then, as if in ridicule, sends a letter from the big bosses, which ordinary serpents regard as sacred, because they have been taught to consider themselves in all the duty of the state. Similarly, a problem-solving psychologist induces an emotionally unstable second son to engage in a homosexual act that takes another step toward death. And Jost never tires of providing his film with magnificent landscape sketches that reflect the mood of each scene or a particular hero. At the same time, nature is the only true value, for it personifies life, which cannot be said of modern humanity, which has long been going into the abyss of chaos and death.
Perhaps, Jost's film will be most liked by those who know how to appreciate the atmosphere, and the meaning of what is told draws not only from action and dialogue. Otherwise, Jost’s work will be dull, like most people who spend time working and delusions about a brighter future.
8.5 out of 10