Let’s start here: Billy Crudup is one of our truly great actors. Early into Jay Kelly, written by Noah Baumbach and Emily Mortimer and directed by Baumbach, Crudup appears for a one-scene turn that jump-starts the narrative. Over drinks, his Timothy confronts the George Clooney-like movie star Jay Kelly (George Clooney) about “stealing his life.” They were friends in acting school, and then Timothy made the mistake of inviting Jay to an important audition with an important filmmaker (Jim Broadbent). Now Jay Kelly is Jay Kelly and Timothy is a child therapist. A fist fight ensues.
This interaction catapults Jay into an already-burgeoning existential crisis. As his long-suffering manager (Adam Sandler, wonderful) and publicist (Laura Dern, lovely) try to rein him in, Kelly forces his entourage to Europe under the dual excuses of his backpacking daughter (Grace Edwards) and a tribute at an Italian film festival. In truth, he’s searching for meaning. A rationalization that what he’s done with his life has mattered. He wanders a train full of “regular people,” forcing conversations with strangers who only know him as an action star on the big screen. They’re pleasant, because of course they are. When Jay allows himself to become a real-life hero in a particularly funny sequence, he winds up feeling ill at ease and embarrassed. In flashbacks he recalls his greatest loves and greatest mistakes. All the while, those around him fall away. Jay Kelly’s life finally becomes less important than their own.
Baumbach is making his Fellini film, and it’s a joy to watch. There are funny, recurring jokes involving cheesecake and a lonely man never being alone. There are heartfelt, regretful scenes that nearly always involve Sandler, this film’s co-MVP with Crudup. And Clooney is doing both sides of what he does best. He’s downbeat and ponderous in moments of introspection, big and goofy in the few sequences of physical comedy. Clooney’s always been a bit shakier in the middle, playing it straight. One of the great ironies of his career is that perhaps no one alive has looked more like a matinee idol, yet he is best when complicating that image with absurdity or starkness. Here you have both, and they’re harnessed expertly by Baumbach.
There’s great supporting work from Patrick Wilson, Greta Gerwig, and Mortimer herself, not to mention a very effective turn from Riley Keough as Jay’s older, abandoned daughter. Cinematographer Linus Sandgren constructs a gently dramatic aesthetic, his shadows creeping up on Jay as he traverses further and further into self-doubt. The picture’s final act, though a bit too long-winded, features some of the more beautiful frames Sandgren has designed.
Everything culminates in a final scene that weaponizes nostalgia to clever ends. The autobiographical nature of Jay Kelly for both Clooney and Baumbach is hard to ignore. Here are two celebrated, experienced artists who’ve been given their fair share of tributes (Telluride gave one to Baumbach at this very festival). And their work has been important. Hasn’t it?
Jay Kelly premiered at the 2025 Telluride Film Festival and will open in theaters on November 14 before coming to Netflix on December 5.
The post Telluride Review: Noah Baumbach Makes His Fellini Film with Jay Kelly first appeared on The Film Stage.
from The Film Stage https://ift.tt/1PyFVpo
0 Comments