Staff Pick: Little Jar
By: Marcey White
Ainsley is not what you’d call a “team player.” Constantly dreading contact with her co-workers, she is thrilled when suddenly a virus forces everyone to work from home. Her elation at being alone however soon turns into her own brand of quirky and somewhat disturbing madness. She discovers a small glass jar in a drawer filled with buttons, pins, various household items and… the preserved body of a dead mouse. The mouse quickly becomes Ainsley’s obsession, receiving a tiny set of clothes, a small room of its own, and all of her attention. Her conversations with it turn into a relationship which, as it evolves, becomes unexpectedly complicated. Meanwhile, life’s realities intrude on the small world Ainsley has built in the form of Marvin, a goofy, loveable grocery delivery person. Lonely himself, Marvin visits Ainsley from outside her window periodically, unaware he has a competitor for Ainsley’s attention until he begins to see the effect her obsession is having. Ainsley eventually has to choose between the neurotic, claustrophobic but safe world she has built, and the uncertainties and discomfort of freedom in a real world. Ainsley’s borderline schizophrenia is played to comic perfection by Kelsey Gunn, who keeps us right on the edge of craziness from beginning to end. A brilliant, funny and touching story about what happens when a carefully constructed inner life confronts reality.
Little Jar
(USA, 90 MIN)
Writers: Dominic López, Kelsey Gunn
Director: Dominic López
Cast: Kelsey Gunn, Nicholas Anthony Reid, Jon Snow, Anthony Ma, Jennifer DeFilippo, Doug Hurley, Michael Rousselet
Make sure you catch one of two showings of Little Jar while at AFF:
Friday October 28, 2022 8:00pm
Galaxy Theatre 7
Tuesday November 1, 2022 9:15pm
Galaxy Theatre 6