Judd surely deserves the lion's share of kudos for the movie's success...
Come Early Morning (2006)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted: 45
Fresh: 38
Rotten:7
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Consensus: A quiet but moving film anchored by the unexpected depth of Ashley Judd's performance.
Synopsis: For her directorial debut, Joey Lauren Adams (CHASING AMY) offers this humble, small-town character study of Lucy (Ashley Judd), a 30-something Arkansas woman who, though a contractor by day, hits the bars--and often the bedrooms of... For her directorial debut, Joey Lauren Adams (CHASING AMY) offers this humble, small-town character study of Lucy (Ashley Judd), a 30-something Arkansas woman who, though a contractor by day, hits the bars--and often the bedrooms of strange men--after dark. Though hardworking and well-liked in the community, she's inherited the emotional unavailability of her stoic father (Scott Wilson, IN COLD BLOOD), a frustrated guitar player whose boozing and womanizing destroyed his marriage to Lucy's mother. But when Lucy meets new-guy-in-town and all-around good catch Cal (Jeffrey Donovan), who cares enough to get to know Lucy outside of the bar and the bedroom, she discovers that after nearly 20 years, a habit can be hard to break, and intimacy without alcohol can be a scary thing. Part rural family drama, part romance, Adams's screenplay sidesteps the typical cutesy, small-town clichés, giving us a strong female lead with real flaws and deep roots in authentic surroundings. Following several years of big-budget studio productions with what could be a continuation of her first starring role in 1993's RUBY IN PARADISE, Judd paints Lucy with subtle touches that allow her mistakes to endear her to us rather than frustrate. Subtlety is the film's strength: Adams's scoring of a key seduction scene, the sound of chirping crickets, the small changes we see in Lucy during the course of the film, the well-chosen country soundtrack, and Tim Orr's restrained camera work. A great supporting cast, including Wilson, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson, and Laura Prepon helps Adams bring a five-year labor of love to vivid life. [More]
Starring: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson
Starring: Ashley Judd, Jeffrey Donovan, Diane Ladd, Tim Blake Nelson, Scott Wilson, Laura Prepon, Ray McKinnon, Pat Corley, Stacy Keach, Wally Welch
Director: Joey Lauren Adams
Director: Joey Lauren Adams
Producer: Julie Yorn, Holly Wiersma, Ed Bass
Studio: IDP Distribution
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Reviews for Come Early Morning
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.
The best thing about Adams' film is its unhurried, casual naturalism.
The writing and directing by Joey Lauren Adams express an admirable naturalness and eschews rose-tinted solutions.
...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.
Subdued and deliberate, but also sensitive and quietly moving. And it gives Judd a chance to shine as a real actress again.
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 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.
The baby-voiced costar of Chasing Amy proves an effortless filmmaker, turning Lucy’s journey into the awakening of a soul.
It's a Southern story, but not cloying in the way that many Hollywood versions of the rustic South are.
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.
The film has a worn, live-in feel, and its unhurried narrative captures the subtle rhythms of small-town life. Nothing much happens on the surface, but worlds of hope, hurt and determination lie right behind the characters' eyes, waiting to be discovered.
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.
Beautifully photographed by Tim Orr, Come Early Morning is the kind of small gem that's becoming increasingly rare in American films.
Latest News for Come Early Morning
November 09, 2006:
Critical Consensus: A So-So "Year", "Fiction" Works; "Babel" Shoots and Scores; "Harsh Times" Lives Up To Its Title; Guess "Return"'s Tomatometer!
This week at the movies, we ve got a rom-com in Provence ("A Good Year," starring Russell Crowe), a guy whose life is a novel ("Stranger than Fiction,"... More...
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