Craig Roberts Emile Hirsch
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Just Jim
is a nifty little Indie film written, directed, and starred in by Craig
Roberts. It shows a segment in the
life of an unpopular nerdy teen who lives in a fantasy world because he just
can’t seem to connect with anyone, even his parents. They’re portrayed as being inattentive to him and rather
shallow, although they seem to relate to his older sister very well. Yet, they want to help him, and try
giving him a birthday party, and inviting one of his classmates for supper
without asking him. Jim is taunted
by classmates, and although he makes feeble stabs at socializing, nothing
works, and he retreats further into himself.
Jim is ripe for a bad influence, and he appears
in a new neighbor named Dean (Hirsch) who inserts himself into Jim’s life under
the guise of helping him grow out of his pussiness with advice like, “Man up a
bit; stop being a little bitch” and to be “mysterious but open.” Dean takes Jim to have his ears
pierced, get a tattoo, and to walk out of a store without paying for a
drink. He helps him win a race at
school through underhanded means, and threatens the boyfriend of the girl Jim
has a crush on to stay away from her or horribly bad things will happen to him
and his family.
Dean’s next step is to “inform” Jim’s parents
of the things he has advised Jim to do, without telling them of his own
influence. All of this is to
convince them that Jim is “crazy” and needs to be sent to a mental institution.
Because of how the film ended, I began to
wonder if Dean is a real person or someone in Jim’s imagination, who helps him
explore different ways of being and ways to solve his problems. If so, I would say, “Well done, Craig
Roberts.” It elevates what might be a good script to a more clever production.
Yes, it is all just Jim, but most
interesting.
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