[THE INCREDIBLE
ADVENTURE OF JOJO (AND HIS ANNOYING LITTLE SISTER AVILA) recently
played at the 39th Cleveland International Film Festival.]
Review by Bob
Ignizio
THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE OF JOJO
(AND HIS ANNOYING LITTLE SISTER AVILA)
opens with a warning. “This is not a film for overprotective
parents. Boys use pocket knives. Girls eat bugs. You know, like the
good 'ol days when parents had no idea what the heck their kids were
doing.” Given that many modern parents won't even let their kids
walk to the end of the block without adult accompaniment, that's a
downright terrifying prospect for some, and one the movie indeed
makes good on. In addition to the knife using and bug eating, there's
also a fair amount of urinating on critters (including a cranky
hobo), playing with wolf traps, and other precarious activities and
situations that would give even the most laid back parents pause.
The plot is pretty simple: after a
visit to their grandmother's house, six year old Jojo (Joseph Ogando), his baby sister Avila (Avila von Goosebottom), and their mother (Gina Plastino)
set off for home. The return trip comes to a halt, though, when mom
crashes the car. The next morning Jo Jo and his
sister wake up, but mom can't be roused. Jojo figures his best bet
is to try and make his way back to grandma's house, so after briefly contemplating ditching his sister, he puts her in his backpack and sets off in what seems to be the right
direction. The car and mom are found not long after by local police,
who soon realize that there were kids in the car, as well. A search
party is formed, but after two days the cops start to regard it more as a body
recovery mission. As for mom, the movie remains mum on her fate.
Despite the seemingly grave nature of the situation, the tone remains one of adventure and humor, and we're never really too concerned
that anything bad will befall the kids.
Written and directed by Brian Schmidt with cinematography by Ann Marie Plastino, THE
INCREDIBLE ADVENTURE OF JOJO (AND HIS ANNOYING LITTLE SISTER AVILA)
harks back to the individualistic, low budget regional films of
the sixties and seventies more than modern indie fare. It's a little eccentric and rough around
the edges, and it's pretty obvious that most of the cast are
non-professionals. Nonetheless, the actors acquit themselves fairly well,
with the kids in particular coming across as genuine. It's unclear
whether the film's weathered look is intentional or not (we're not
talking the full-on artifice of GRINDHOUSE
here, but this still looks like a movie that's been through a
projector a few times), but either way it adds to the old
school vibe. Not perfect by any means, but it's far more
personal and entertaining than yet another cookie-cutter hipster
rom-com or coming of age story gunning for a sale at Sundance. 2 ½
out of 4 stars.
No comments:
Post a Comment
We approve all legitimate comments. However, comments that include links to irrelevant commercial websites and/or websites dealing with illegal or inappropriate content will be marked as spam.
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.