Directed By Phyllis Nagy

Starring – Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, Chris Messina

The Plot – A married woman (Banks) with an unwanted pregnancy lives in a time in America where she can’t get a legal abortion and works with a group of suburban women to find help.

Rated R for some adult language and brief drug use

Call Jane | Official Trailer | In Theaters October 28 – YouTube

POSITIVES

Nagy’s latest is the right film at the right time, in that it conveys the importance of the Roe V Wade landmark decision, whose recent overturning has now left the female population concerned for their own personal rights. It’s a period piece, but one that doesn’t feel constrained by the need to convey this in visual coherences nor key soundtrack choices, instead permeating itself as a timeless narrative in social commentary that is all the more relevant when you consider that abortion is still a hotbed topic of our own contemporary society, nearly 70 years after the story’s established setting. It illustrates the importance of a real life group of women named The Jane’s, who persevered as the lone ally for women faced with life-ending situations in a world that continuously treated their sexual engagements as a problem for one, echoing this essence with Banks’ central protagonist Joy, a homemaker in a conservative marriage, whose decision opens her up to the world of the aforementioned group, all the while unraveling an evolution for her that completely transforms her before our very eyes. Banks herself is great in the role, maintaining the same comedic timing that has made her a familiar force over the last decade, but also with a degree of resiliency that endears her towards feeling like the materialization of all of the pain and psychological trauma of a world let down by the system she once believed in. Also charming is Weaver, who in her second dose of silver screen stature in a month, permeates a far more charismatic exuberance than that of her alcoholic free spirit in “The Good House”, this time with an equally magnetic captivation over the scenes she adorns, with a balance of caustic wit and assertiveness that continuously feels like the film revolves around her unshakeable gravity. But even with the predictable merits of the performances, the film’s tonal capacities invoke complete surprise in direction, with this being possibly the first and only abortion film that I can remember that is declared a comedy first. This is strange for a film depicting so much emotional weight to its circumstances, but the script from Hayley Schore and Roshan Sethi have confidence in their material, emitting more than a few heartfelt laughs from the magnitude of the material that deviates somewhere between the awkwardness and ironies of a world preaching freedoms, yet the same kind that suppress the decisions of its female population, revoltingly. It proves that the material isn’t above exploring the gaps in logic of the corresponding society, all the while refusing to ever lose its cool, in turn exuding the ferocity and determination that make women such a dominating force when working together. Finally, while the film’s run time is ambitious at 110 minutes, it flies by with urgency and increased momentum once the film passes its initial set-up during the opening twenty minutes. Whether in the fascinating aspect of this underground group’s operations in the shadows of an opposing society, or Joy’s secretive existence that she keeps from her family, the film is full of compelling angles that constantly maintain your attention, while prescribing little to no moments of hindering down time in the process, giving us an airtight narrative without any of the fat of formulaic to grate on the nerves of an adoring audience.

NEGATIVES

Though the aforementioned humor does elicit an endearing quality far from the clutches of the thick and unnerving realities that can possibly omit much authenticity, the lack of stakes or overhanging drama to this particular story leaves it feeling a bit untruthful during key moments of corresponding conflict in the story. Considering this film sets itself up for so many long-term stakes in the many interjecting subplots alluding to trouble on the horizon for Joy’s family and her newfound group of friends, the climax of the movie leaves much to be desired, with abrupt time jumps and even convenience finding its way into the development of the plot, and not necessarily in ways that juggle tension with the cleverness of how the group are able to allude the consequences of their actions. For my money, more deviation to the complacency of the storytelling would’ve held a more honest and authentic approach to the impressionable audience, especially considering Joy’s narrative is entirely fictional, therefore not requiring justification to place her in the kind of peril that could’ve led to a more meaningful triumph. In addition to this, even at nearly a two-hour run time, I’m still left with the feeling of unexplored potential, with an imbalance between arcs and themes that feels all the more noticeable the longer the film persists. In shuffling Joy off between two respective settings, in her family and The Jane’s, the film is unfortunately unable to explore some of those compelling notions and deep seeded questions of a group of women taking life and liberties into their own hands, leading to a laundry list of honorable mentions that the dialogue continuously alludes to, but without the abundance of time needed to properly pay them off in ways that feel conscientious to the story that they’re corresponding with.

OVERALL
“Call Jane” is thought-provoking, stimulating, and above all else sincere towards its delicate subject matter, despite the air of limitations occasionally undercutting the magnitude of dramatic stakes and circumstances. Most importantly, it’s a call of urgency in the fight for safe and comfortable healthcare in the balance of women’s rights, and one that sadly seventy years later we’re still refusing to coherently interpret.

My Grade: 7/10 or B