The film opens with loud music and an extreme close-up of its title character (Christopher Abbott), sweaty, bobbing, almost closing his eyes. He’s messed up; drinking, talking, and stumbling through the halls of a club. He downs another alcoholic beverage and stumbles onto the street to reveal daylight, a major city going through its day. He’s probably been there all night. And he’s going to a Shiva service at his mother’s house for his recently-deceased father. Even he looks a little ashamed at his lack of responsibility. The death of James’ estranged father will not be the event that shakes him from his destructive patterns. They weren’t close—he meets his father’s new wife for the first time after his death—and he’s not ready to break free. Between sittings, he yells at a woman at a bar, gets into a fight, and goes clubbing again, hooking up with someone new. Then it’s back to the grief. This is James’ life—cycles of pain and doing anything to numb that pain.
We can tell early on that James is close to his mother (Cynthia Nixon). He has been with her before as she has undergone cancer treatments, but she seems better now. He tells her that he’s going to Mexico to get his shit together after his father’s death, and he’ll come back a new man. While he seems to be recovering south of the border, he starts seeing a young tourist named Jayne (Makenzie Leigh), but is forced to return early when his mother’s cancer resurfaces. They’ve been through this before, but something in her eyes looks different this time.
At first, James reverts to a few of his selfish ways. He’s surprised that his new girlfriend doesn’t sacrifice everything for him. He drinks. He lashes out at his best friend Nick (Kid Cudi). But then reality sets in when he learns that his mother needs hospice care and not a hospital. There will be no more treatments.
“James White” is a masterful examination of how our behavior and the excuses we make about our lives fall away under certain, life-changing conditions. Most of us have dealt with grief, loss and pain in our lives, and it does something to you. It changes you. Hollywood has long told stories of losers made into winners through tragedy, but “James White” charts that trajectory in its own way, unafraid of the ugly truth of death. Mond shoots almost entirely in close-up, bringing us right into the face of James White, as unable to turn away from his story as he is. It wouldn’t work without the revelatory performance from Abbott, who commits to every emotional beat without making White too much of an asshole to make his redemption worthwhile. He's matched by fearless work from Nixon, doing the best work of her career.
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