Juliet, Naked

Dir: Jesse Peretz

2018

***

So many of my mates were into Nick Hornby’s novels in the 1990s but I could never get into them. Fast forward a couple of decades and I find myself immersing myself in them because I miss the decade they were written in. To say I enjoyed them would still be an exaggeration though. That said, I think his best work has been writing for the screen and above all of his work, Juliet, Naked is the most successful of both worlds. I’ll be brutally honest and state that I don’t think Juliet, Naked is a particularly good film, but I still quite liked it. I liked the idea and I thought Rose Byrne, Ethan Hawke and Chris O'Dowd all clicked with one another. Sometimes films work for these simple reasons. I also think Jesse Peretz is an interesting director. Having made a name for himself as the bass guitarist for The Lemonheads, Peretz has a knack for making what shouldn’t be good films, good. Our Idiot Brother is awful on paper but in reality it is about as likable as it gets. I would hazard a guess that the fact he wasn’t trained as a director and only came into film making after already becoming a musician is part of his alternative approach but the truth is I don’t know that much about him, all I know is that I liked his quirky style. The film follows Annie (Byrne), a woman in her late thirties, who is in an unhappy relationship with Duncan (O’Dowd), a college teacher who is obsessed with Tucker Crowe (Hawke), an obscure musician whose last work was released 25 years ago. Duncan operates a fan site dedicated to Crowe and has a mini shrine to him in his basement. One day, a package arrives in the mail containing an album, titled 'Juliet, Naked', of acoustic demos of the songs on Crowe’s hit album 'Juliet'. Annie and Duncan listen to it separately, and have an argument over its quality. In a fit of rage, Annie writes a negative review of it on Duncan’s site. Crowe comes upon the review and writes to Annie by email, thanking her for her honesty. The two quickly form a rapport behind Duncan’s back. Crowe writes to Annie of his regrets as being a poor father to five children with four different mothers. Likewise, Annie discloses her disappointment with not having had any children. Crowe lives near Jackson, his youngest son, and Jackson’s mother, Cat, in America. Crowe is visited by one of his other children, Lizzie, who is pregnant. Lizzie offers Crowe the phone number of another one of his children, Grace; the only one he purposely has had absolutely no contact with. Meanwhile, Duncan meets Gina, a new teacher at his college who shares his enthusiasm for the work of Crowe, and sleeps with her. Upon learning this, Annie breaks up with him. Crowe soon journeys to London with Jackson for the birth of his first grandchild. He asks if Annie would like to meet up with him in person while he is relatively near her, and she agrees. However, Crowe suffers a heart attack, and Annie ends up visiting him in the hospital. There, Annie meets Jackson and Lizzie and most of Crowe’s exes and other children. Later, after Crowe has recovered and everyone else, besides Jackson, has left, Crowe suggests he and Jackson visit Annie’s home, and she accepts. While visiting her, Duncan discovers Crowe with Annie and tries to digest it. It’s quite a wonderful scene and I really can’t think of anyone other than O’Dowd who could have pulled it off so brilliantly. Duncan is invited to dinner and can’t help but express his love of Crowe’s work to Crowe’s inherent displeasure and disregard. Having met a few of my heroes in the past, I can totally relate to this. It’s quite a scene and beautifully written. After Duncan leaves, Crowe tells Annie that his first love, Julie, the person he wrote his hit album for, visited him at one of his concerts, with their child, Grace. She gave her to him to hold and walked away. Crowe says that he panicked, thinking Julie wasn't going to come back, so he left the baby in a men’s restroom. This was Crowe’s last concert, as he could not bring himself to go in front of a crowd and sing songs that he wrote about Julie anymore. Afterward, Crowe attempts to call Grace to make amends but to no avail, as Grace claims that she already has a father and has no interest in a relationship with him. Crowe and Annie go to an exhibition that Annie was involved with. Annie bluntly confesses her romantic interest in Crowe, which he reciprocates. Annie’s boss, upon being introduced to Crowe, decides to have him sing for the rock and roll themed exhibition. Despite his discomfort, Crowe agrees to sing, playing Waterloo Sunset by The Kinks. That night, Annie and Crowe attempt to have sex, but are interrupted by Jackson, having thrown up over himself. Afterward, Jackson inquires as to when he will be going home to his mother. Crowe asks Annie to come with them, but Annie says that she cannot. She adds that Crowe cannot leave his child for her either, because this is his last chance to do right by his kids. Dropping Crowe and Jackson off at Lizzie’s home in London, Annie says farewell. Back home, Annie is at a bar when Duncan arrives to plead for her forgiveness and ask for a fresh start which Annie declines. A year later, Annie has moved to London and emails Crowe, sharing that she has decided to have a child on her own, something Crowe had suggested to her earlier. Annie invites Crowe to meet up with her, and he agrees. During the credits a video of Duncan from his site is shown, revealing that Crowe has released a new album inspired by Annie, which Duncan gives a bad review. While it isn’t quite the happy ending one might want and expect, I was relieved by how sensibly it was left. The unhappy ending for me was a happy ending, not because I’m old and miserable (although I am), but because it felt real, correct and rather uplifting. It has also been a long time since I’ve seen improve done this well and as subtle. I don’t want to under-sell the film or sound patronising but it’s a nice film. Nice isn’t enough for most people, which is a shame, but for me its extremely important. Its no masterpiece but I know I will revisit the film at some point in the future and will enjoy it all over again, which I can’t say about most films, good and bad. I give it the strongest of three stars.