DVD of the Week: Come Early Morning

My DVD pick for this week is Come Early Morning, the directorial debut of 90s rom-com sweetheart Joey Lauren Adams. Be forewarned that the packaging on this film is a ghastly attempt to sugarcoat is contents. You'll think I've gone insane when you see it. It reimagines the film as a glowing Ashley Judd romantic comedy and boasts the painful tagline "Before you fall in love, you need to love yourself." Please don't let any of that scare you. It's just a vicious marketing scheme gone awry. This film, a theatrical dud, (a probable cause for the advertising overhaul) actually embodies a gritty low-key indie spirit more than any sort of typical Judd-esque fluff. It's her first serious film role in some time and an absolute reminder of why she became a star in the first place. Here she plays Lucy Fowler, a self destructive woman with an unfortunate tendency to indulge in men and alcohol. The film is about Lucy's personal renovations, including (though, not exclusively) a wonderfully earnest romance with local nice guy Cal (Jeffrey Donovan). It's a nicely realized drama about defensive, terse Southern folk living in self-appointed shadows. It's their own stubbornness that destroys them and watching their internal struggle makes for great cinema.

Also new on DVD this week is the Oscar nominated Sierra Leone conflict diamond thriller Blood Diamond starring Leonard DiCaprio, Djimon Hounsou, and Jennifer Connelly. It's a tough mix of action adventure themes sandwiched between speeches on the failures of humanity. The moralizing and speechifying leads to a handful of rough patches, but overall it's an incendiary portrait of a fascinating subject in recent history. You can also pick up Rocky Balboa this week. For anyone who is a fan of the franchise's early installments or simply a sucker underdog films, it's a solid viewing opportunity.