Jenna Rosher’s Junior is an extraordinary, intimate look at a the Belasco family. Eddie is a 75-year old guy who has retired from a life of hard drinking and womanizing; after three failed marriages, the former “talent manager” (I suppose) lives with 98-year old “Ma,” Josephine. Josephine is fiercely independent, taking care of her self until she cannot, as the film’s later passages examine how Eddie and Ma grabble with the inevitable.
Both mother and son have led a rich, interesting life. Born in Italy, Josephine worked for three decades as an accountant in San Francisco decides, and in 2007, at 98, she finally decided to finish high school, becoming a national news story. Eddie managed clubs and talent traveling all over the country, living a life that inevitably left him with health problems and alone.
Junior opens with a fight between Eddie and Ma over the condition of a downstairs apartment that ends in some laughter. This is one of the most accurate, at times heartbreaking, and realistic portraits of family I’ve seen. Rosher has achieved a kind of social realism I dare think even the masters of the craft could not have, making a film that trumps the realism of Mike Leigh, Ken Loach and the mumblecore filmmakers (specifically thinking of Andrew Wagner’s The Talent Given Us).
The film is not without moments of humor and triumph, but its opening isn’t exactly clear and the film, in essence, grew on me as I enjoyed the humor, warmth and love of this realistic, yet rarely filmed type of family unit. Rosher, primarily a documentary cinematographer (photographing the excellent, gold standard for non-judgmental documentary filmmaking, Jesus Camp) watches patiently, capturing the rhythms of real life, including the fights, the laughs, the memories and the trips to the doctor’s office (which become more and more painful as the film continues).
Where the film is so skillful is as a tool for those in Eddie’s position. There is a personal link for me as my mother and grandmother may soon find themselves in the same position as Eddie and Ma. I will also inevitably, with a close relationship to both, find may also find myself in this position. Similar to Jim Breuer’s touching documentary More Than Me, where he takes care of his 84-year old father while touring the country, Rosher captures some of the best moments where humor is found in the frustration of mental and physical deterioration. Powerful and simple, both films accurately reflect a bittersweet reality.
Junior is now on VOD.