Mumblecore, Alicia Keys, and the Friendship Deficit.

I'm Jane, the writer...Thanks for checking in, and joining us

in this process. 

I read once that Alicia Keys said "The key to songwriting

for me is just honesty. It resonates with people." And I  love

that, because I know that personally I can definitely sense the

difference between films written with stereotypical characters

and films that written from real experience. Specifically, I’m

talking about women’s roles. And when I find a film that 

captures a true female perspective and experience, it's rare,

unexpected and wonderful. And I think seeing the success of

films like Sex and the City proves that there's an audience

starved to see female centric films. 

In terms of stereotypes, I think of Sex and the City (and 

while, I enjoyed the movie) which definitely catered to a

particular audience, and portrayed one type of female.

Someone with whom I could not fully relate. That film seems

to make me nostalgic for a world I've never been a part of.

But that being said, it did capture some of the inner workings

of female friendship, and that was a start.

You know when you see a movie, and there's a character dealing

with something you're dealing with, and intrinsically, something

feels wrong? You feel disconnected with this character though 

you're going through the same thing?

I hate that feeling.  That was one of my main motivators in

writing this film. I was watching so many people I knew fall

into deep depressions, more than would seem average. And

then, so many of us were having problems with childhood 

friends we were becoming emotionally distant from. That’s the 

place and the emotions I wrote from.

One of the reason I fell in love the mumblecore* (shudder)

genre movies, is that sense of realness and honesty. While I 

didn't absolutely, 100% relate to these films, these characters 

were more in-line with people I knew, emotions I was

experiencing. I talk particularly of Andrew Bujalski's

Funny Ha Ha. Yes, perhaps plot is somewhat lacking,

but I overlooked that for characters that felt alive and unlike

people my age had been portrayed on screen before.

I was recently reading an article on the Huffington Post

about friendship, and the author, Irene Levine, had used the

term “Friendship Deficit” in describing our society’s friendship

habits. And it felt perfectly fitting. We seem to be starved for

meaningful, close friendship. Anyhow, it reminded me of my

daydreams of reconnecting with friends from my past

- friends who have shaped me in innumerable, inexpressible ways.

And ultimately of what I hope this film to be, a movie about

friendships, our ties to our old relationships, and the people

we become when our past can no longer anchor us.

*http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumblecore