A passive-aggressive woman is unmasked in ‘JT LeRoy’
Kristen Stewart does not believe in “JT LeRoy.” So there’s no reason anyone else should, either.
In football, occasionally there’s a glitch in which multiple wide receivers mistakenly run to the same spot on the field and the quarterback heaves the ball into heavy traffic, resulting in a costly interception.
In Hollywood, that’s called Two Movies On The Same Subject Coming Out Around The Same Time.
“JT LeRoy” (2018) is the successor to “Author: The JT LeRoy Story” (2016), which apparently was not even the first cinematic treatment of this project. The latter was a documentary; the former sends two very powerful cinematic messages — 1) that someone else still somehow owned some of the rights to this pointless escapade and 2) that Hollywood is very much desperate for content. (Note in the credits how many producers there are for this film, and also note how many people receive “special thanks.”)
One critic suggests “JT LeRoy” might well be the final word on this topic, “if we are lucky.”
“JT LeRoy,” written and directed by Justin Kelly, is based on the memoir of Savannah Knoop, who was not the creator of JT LeRoy but his impersonator. The film is like a newspaper article with the lede paragraph omitted, the viewer picking things up on second reference as characters routinely read the backstory aloud in cramped apartments. It’s never clear why this hoax needed to occur. To inject something ... anything ... into Knoop’s non-story, there is an occasional detour into a romance that decades ago would be boundary-breaking, nowadays, not so much.
The pace of the film would have you believe that the impersonation lasted months; it apparently went on for years.
There is, incredibly, a crown jewel. Nearly all passive-aggressive characters are male. Laura Dern, as flaky writer Laura Albert, shows how a woman can do it. Like the old guys in heist films, Dern repeatedly ups the ante to Stewart’s Savannah. Just one more time ... You’re doing fantastic ... If we don’t get this deal, your brother’s life is toast ... Most of the script is Laura explaining something to Savannah. This does become an intriguing dramatic device, as Dern’s arguments are made as backfill. As she presses Savannah to do something, she speaks as though Savannah has already consented, then only when the plan is in progress does Laura explain why it will work.
Stewart, not Dern, gets top billing. Presumably Stewart was drawn to the gender-bending potential of Knoop’s persona, but Stewart’s JT is like Ziggy Stardust on serious jet lag.
“JT LeRoy” is among the unfortunately growing genre of highbrow scam films that enrich the authors, not the viewers. People who made tiny inroads into pop culture via dubious or fraudulent or illegal means write a book and sell the story and continue to ring up suckers long after authorities — whether they be legal or professional — have come and gone. A disturbing effort was Scorsese’s “The Wolf of Wall Street,” a very well-made picture that garnered critical acclaim and made the protagonist more famous than he previously was. Other high-level talent put together the antihero stories “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” and Molly’s Game,” two pieces of junk.
One film that isn’t part of the sordid genre but does match “JT LeRoy” on another level is “The Wife.” Both struggle with the inability to depict writing and conveying, other than in speeches, that this character is an author who is not getting credit for her work.
A successful movie about a con game will show a likable protagonist compelled to participate in a fraud, only to have the fraud mushroom into something big before the protagonist must come clean and risk everything. The big problem with “JT LeRoy” is that there’s no risk — these people are living on a shoestring with everything to gain from this kind of notoriety and nothing to lose. The scam becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If the cover is blown, it only makes the original project more marketable.
That’s what breaks the 4th Wall, as anyone who pays to see “JT LeRoy” has to be wondering, “Am I informing myself through art ... or rewarding a con artist?” Anyone with a third of a brain in this film should’ve been able to figure out the hoax. Perhaps suckers just like it.
2 stars
(May 2019)
“JT LeRoy” (2018)
Cast:
Kristen Stewart
as Savannah ♦
Laura Dern
as Laura ♦
Jim Sturgess
as Geoff ♦
Diane Kruger
as Eva ♦
Kelvin Harrison Jr.
as Sean ♦
James Jagger
as Ben ♦
Courtney Love
as Sasha ♦
Dave Brown
as Bruce ♦
Alicia Johnston
as Isabelle ♦
Eric Plamondon
as Gaspard ♦
Craig Haas
as Ennio ♦
Adam Hurtig
as Darren ♦
Will Woytowich
as Cassian ♦
Bobby Robidoux
as Elliot ♦
Sarah Constible
as Bookstore Manager ♦
Jeff Reyes
as Queer Kid ♦
Aqqalu Meekis
as Party Goer ♦
Andres Collantes
as Party Goer ♦
Robin Delaney
as Punk Girl ♦
Ivan Henwood
as Solitary Man ♦
Adren Alfons
as Feminine Server ♦
Joanne Rodriguez
as Audience Member ♦
Eric Lavallee
as Bassist ♦
Gino Anania
as Street Kid ♦
Nadine Pinette
as French Reporter ♦
Genevieve Pelletier
as French Reporter ♦
Joel Waldie
as French Reporter ♦
Karmelle Spence-Sing
as French Reporter ♦
Gabriel Gosselin
as French Reporter ♦
Tony Braga
as Restaurant Manager ♦
Ben Hodges
as Drummer ♦
Jordan Guay
as Makeup Artist ♦
Kristian Jordan
as Photographer ♦
Guy Maddin
as Reader ♦
Jean-Jacques Javier
as Reader
Directed by: Justin Kelly
Written by: Justin Kelly
Written by: Savannah Knoop (book)
Producer: Mark Amin
Producer: Jeff Beesley
Producer: Thor Bradwell
Producer: Cassian Elwes
Producer: Dave Hansen
Producer: Gary Pearl
Producer: Giri Tharan
Producer: Patrick Walmsley
Producer: Julie Yorn
Co-producer: Evan Arnold
Line producer: Rhonda Baker
Associate producer: Babak Eftekhari
Associate producer: Umida Umarbekova
Executive producer/producer: Phyllis Laing
Executive producer: Tyler Boehm
Executive producer: Tracy Christian
Executive producer: Nadine DeBarros
Executive producer: Anders Erden
Executive producer: Wayne Marc Godfrey
Executive producer: Margot Hand
Executive producer: Jere Hausfater
Executive producer: Robert Jones
Executive producer: Justin Kelly
Executive producer: Savannah Knoop
Executive producer: Jed Root
Executive producer: Devan Towers
Executive producer: Cami Winikoff
Music: Tim Kvasnosky
Cinematography: Bobby Bukowski
Editing: Aaron I. Butler
Production design: Jean-Andre Carriere
Set decoration: Sara McCudden
Costume: Avery Plewes
Makeup and hair: Brandi Boulet, Michelle Côté, Stacey Panepinto, Sarah Stamp, Nina Kvaternik, Kristin Watts, Kim Wright, Ashley Hyra