A Southern beauty whose habit of waking up in strange beds with head-ringing hangovers is beginning to wear thin determines to uncover her secret shrouded family past in hopes of discovering the truth about the woman she has become in the feature filmmaking debut of actor-turned-director Joey Lauren Adams. Lucy (Ashley Judd) is a small town thirtysomething who seems to have fallen into a downward spiral of alcohol-fueled benders and spontaneous one-night stands. In order to begin the
transformation necessary to help her overcome her self-destructive ways, however, Lucy will have to look deep into her familial past and seek out the true weight of the burden that has led her down the darkened path she currently walks. Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson, and Laura Prepon co-star in an intimate personal drama that made its premiere at the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi
If and when Come Early Morning ever resurfaces on DVD, order it immediately-and while you're at it, order Chasing Amy too, if you haven't already seen it, and enjoy a dandy double feature with two country girls of enormous talent.
This is a quietly powerful film about small-town Southern living that avoids all the usual clichés and makes us feel as if we're dropping in on real lives in mid-stream.
In Come Early Morning, Ashley Judd delivers her most natural screen performance since Ruby in Paradise, the film that pushed her toward stardom in 1993.
In a way, the movie itself is an example of that philosophy put into practice. [Director] Adams clearly did a lot of soul-searching as she wrote the story. Her introspective script provides another actress with a great role and a new start.
With an honest and starkly minimalist approach, Adams paints a vivid, often painful portrait of a woman who has nothing to look forward to except the next one-night stand.
What Come Early Morning does is create an utterly convincing central character, and surround her with a milieu and backstory that is sincere and convincing.
...nothing less than a minor key wonder of a film, a character study of novelistic complexity with a sure sense of place and purpose that seems akin to movies made before Hollywood discovered its corporate destiny.
In fact this film is generally about nothing. There's an attempt to show some growth in some relationships, but there really isn't any and we're left where we started.
This film manages to capture loneliness, pain and despair in a way that felt utterly real. It actually hurt me to watch, but ultimately it was catharctic. A brilliant performance by Judd and gratifiying to see her in role that is worthy of her talent.
Written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams, perhaps it takes women
writing and directing the roles they wish to see for women, just completely fleshed-out characters which I know I crave to see.
"You got no say over your heart, Lucy. And If you think you do, you'd best not let yours roam too far."A good, low-key drama written and directed by Joey Lauren Adams. With some good acting by Ashley Judd, Scott Wilson, Jeffrey Donovan and Laura Prepon.
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