Jack & Diane (2012)

Rainbow Rating: Four out of Five Rainbows

When I heard this movie existed, I immediately had to watch it; although the inconsistent tone was obvious even just from the synopsis blurb. A lesbian romance werewolf film? Where are they going with this?

The cheesy intro scene paints Jack & Diane as a dimestore werewolf b-movie. But 90% of the film seems to ignore the werewolf subplot entirely, and what we have is just a tender and tumultuous romance story about two teenage lesbians not unlike ones you've seen before.

As a romance film it is exceptional, with shades of all the greats like Fucking Amal and My Summer of Love, though it doesn't reach those heights. It's a little on the impressionistic side, which I don't favor, but the romance and storyline are real enough to sustain it. There were moments of genuine poignancy. The characters weren't quite as fleshed out as they could have been, but the important aspects shine through and by the end I found myself believing in both these people, and feeling for their struggle. At its best there were definite tidbits in which the uncomfortable, emphatic, mind-boggling experience of young love is fully invoked, coaxed from the ether.

As a horror film, on the other hand, well if that's all you're watching it for you'll be disappointed, but it's competent enough at sewing horror when it tries to be. Jack & Diane may not have 1/10th the balance of rich horror/romance tones cultivated by critical favorite Let the Right One In, but I found the 'scary' moments in J&D a dozen times more effective than any in LTRO. The imbalance actually serves to make the little shards of horror all the more unexpected and jarring.

And then there's by far the most horrific scene in the film, which has nothing to do with werewolves. This movie takes one peculiar, unforeseeable foray into cinema verite rape, defying all convention and (possibly) good story telling. Admittedly the scene does have genuine plot repercussions, even though it involves neither of our main characters. However, the sheer length of it was definitely unnecessary, and there are dozens of other viable ways the necessary plot function could have been reasonably achieved, so I do find myself questioning the wisdom of creating this scene. Mind you this isn't some graphic I Spit On Your Grave type segment, but the "found footage" Point-of-View makes it rather harrowing all the same. Maybe the film's creators wanted to remind the audience that this is, in fact, a horror movie, even if only 10% of the time.

The rape scene threw me off completely and I did have trouble getting back into the film afterward... but eventually I managed to come back into it with about 89% of the enthusiasm I had before that point. I was especially won over by the hilariously awkward privates-shaving scene, the perfect kind of coming of age fodder to show the unnerving newness of being young and in love.

All in all I found Jack & Diane genuinely shocking and when it took its turns to horror, I sincerely couldn't guess what the outcome would be. Is one of them going to end up dead? Both of them? Is it imaginary/symbolic or real? I'm sure the point of the werewolf was some thinly veiled Ginger Snapsian subtext, but I've yet to quite work out the theme as yet. No doubt repeated viewings will illuminate the mystery.

Overall I was very satisfied with Jack & Diane. Given the uncanny mix of content matter, it could have been an all-time favorite film for me -- with some heavy editing. But as is, it's still one of my favorite romance dramas (number 5 or 6 at the moment) and I can't fault a great film for being (merely) great. The soundtrack was also good. Very hip as well as varied.

I've long felt that horror and romance are destined to combine into some amazing, all-time favorite film for me. I thought that film would be Let the Right One In, until I actually watched Let the Right One In. Jack & Diane isn't quite there either, but we're getting closer. Funny that I've never really cared for werewolves and still don't, but between this and the impeccable Ginger Snaps 2, werewolves are starting to takeover my list of favorite films.