Indie cliché but Lynskey shines

 

I obtained a screener of this because it was supposed to have come to the Main Art Theatre. But its appearance was cancelled. Still, I had the DVD in my hands and was eager to review it. So here goes....Hello I Must Be Going appears the first major full length effort from director Todd Louiso. It’s competently done and the acting – starring Blythe Danner, Melanie Lynskey and Christopher Abbott – is quite good. Lynskey (Amy) is a 30-something divorcee who has moved back with her parents in affluent Westport, Ct., a commuter ride from the Big Apple, where she had been married to a high-flying entertainment lawyer. Dumped from that marriage she is depressed and can hardly get out of bed. Her parents (Danner as Ruth & John Rubinstein as Stan) keep coaxing her to get back into life - or get a life - and especially dress better,  because there's an important dinner party coming up with potential for Stan, a lawyer, to snag a major client and retire prosperously.....When Amy meets Jeremy (Abbott), a young actor, at said party, they fall in love, or kinda. Jeremy hits on Amy but, as the older woman, she’s reluctant to get involved. Still, they develop a romantic relationship as the summer in the ocean side community winds down.....There are problems with this movie. Like oh-so-many independents its plot is a bit tired. How many films have there been about a maturing adult returning home after a crisis, sleeping in her old bedroom, hooking up with old high school friends? The characters are also par – the quiet, dreamy but intelligent Amy and the moody artsy Jeremy. Then there’s the score, with beautiful mainly female folkie alt-rock lyrics. But, again, even this is symptomatic of the omniprescent trying-to-find-oneself indie film theme......It’s also a bit of a mystery why so many of these films are set in wealthy communities where the middle class is afflicted by boredom and angst, as is mom Ruth and one other character, a therapist (natch!). No, I don’t think the film was making any political statement.....The best thing about Hello surely is Lynskey, a New Zealand native who’s got an arm’s length of film and TV credits and is currently in The Perks of Being a Wallflower. She’s a scene stealer, no doubt, and her moods and looks are ones you keep thinking about after the movie is over.