Must see flick
A sadly hilarious take on dysfunction and death. We all have problems. For many of us, we have no idea how to deal with them. Screaming therapy? Making out with an old girlfriend? Listening to lots of Bell & Sebastian albums? Who knows. There might be some right answers, but most are probably wrong. In Christopher Jaymes' "In Memory of My Father" a Hollywood producer-type bribes his son Chris (Christopher Jaymes) to film his final days and the aftermath. In the wake of his death, Chris, his two brothers and a variety of friends and family convene at his expansive home to grieve. To an excellent soundtrack of Belle & Sebastian songs, this mostly means avoiding thoughts of the departed completely.
Essentially, none are able to cope, with death and with life. As a lavish party goes on downstairs, Matt (Matt Keeslar) the eldest brother, sits in the bedroom with his father's latest girlfriend, Judy (Judy Greer), smoking pot and discussing his desire to maintain a tidy sock drawer, garbage disposal and their mutual attraction. After a phone call to break up with his girlfriend, they consummate this attraction. All while his father's body lies a few feet away. A variation on this narcissism appears throughout the house, none knowing how to grieve, resorting to the escape of banal chatter and ecstasy. Sadly hilarious, the party must go on as life does: awkwardly.
Throughout it all, the brothers try their best to be good. Jeremy, (Jeremy Sisto), high on ecstasy, stands poolside with Eric (Eric Michael Cole), his cousin Meadow's (Meadow Sisto) boyfriend, also high. Contemplating the water, he says, "I don't want to be a failure, either, I mean want to have integrity in my life. I said I was going to go in the pool. I think maybe I should go in the pool. What do you think, you think if I don't go in, you think that makes me a failure?" They want to be good boyfriends, husbands, brothers, but they can't seem to live up to their own expectations. Who can? Most probably, as Meadow says to Chris, "We're all fucked."
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in memory of my father
