Mr. Roosevelt

Paladin

    Noël Wells has recently risen to the status of Netflix star with her starring role in Aziz Ansari’s Master of None and Jessica Williams’ The Incredible Jessica James. In between starring in these two biographical passion projects (as well as the crazy entertaining Happy Anniversary) she wrote and directed one of her own. Set in both Los Angeles and the main character’s hometown of Austin, Mr. Roosevelt proves to be endearing, honest, and fixedly personal in a really invigorating way.

    Emily Martin (Wells) is having trouble making a go of it in Hollywood, auditioning for commercials in-between editing jobs making pharmaceutical promotional videos. She’s left everything behind back home to try and make something of herself, a rash decision that comes to haunt her when she needs to go home to bury her cat. Emily has to stay with her ex-boyfriend (Nick Thune) and his new girlfriend (Britt Lower) in her former home, and it is as awkward and entertaining as you would expect. Wells has a talent for playing earnest and complex female characters while staying utterly charming. Oftentimes Emily’s emotions run rampant, to the detriment of the tenuous relationships she either tries to rebuild or break. Daniella Pineda stars as Jen Morales, a head-strong musician and waitress who shows Emily that her problems are her own making, but that doesn’t mean she can’t deal with them.

    This is the pinnacle of what an independent film can do: it can be minimal yet moving, humorous and yet smart, and emotionally wrenching and yet not morose. Nick Thune (Eric) and Britt Lower (Celeste) make for true foils to Emily’s narrative, and provide a juxtaposition to the common theme of wild child meets emotional interlopers. I would not only recommend this film but her other work as well. Watch out for Wells, because she can only go up from here.