Blue Jay (film)

Plot

Jim Henderson returns to his hometown in California with the intentions of renovating and selling his late mother's house. While shopping at a supermarket, he bumps into his former high school girlfriend Amanda. The two greet each other, but Jim says he doesn't want to stop her from whatever she was up to. He bumps into her again in the parking lot and the two decide to go for coffee at a place called Blue Jay. The two discuss what has happened in their lives since they last saw each other. Amanda got married, and became the stepmother to two children. Jim worked on building houses with his uncle.

While walking Amanda to her car, the two pass a liquor store they went to frequently when they were younger. Amanda bets that the store owner will recognize them from when they were younger, although Jim disagrees. To Amanda's satisfaction, the store owner does remember the two. He remarks about how the two of them are still together after two decades, and Amanda and Jim jokingly play on about how they are still a couple after all this time.

The two further discuss their current lives in depth, leaving Jim crying and feeling discontent about his life when he hears of how idealistic Amanda's is. The two visit his mother's house, leaving them nostalgic over the memories they shared. While rummaging through old memorabilia, Amanda discovers a letter written years ago that is addressed to her. Amanda then discovers tape recordings of Jim and her roleplaying their middle-aged lives. They play the recordings and laugh about how uncool they were. The two eventually share a kiss that leads to the bedroom. But things get stopped when Jim reveals his feelings for her. After, it is revealed that Amanda had an abortion back when they were in high school. They lash out at each other, ending it with Jim crying on the floor.

Jim walks Amanda to her car the next morning, and Amanda justifies her actions from when she was younger. Jay asks her to read his letter, and Amanda finds out that he had wanted them to keep the baby. Amanda begins to cry, and Jim jokes about how contagious he is to ease the mood (because of how he cried the day before). Jim and Amanda then sigh at one another and the screen cuts to black.

Cast

Production

The film was shot over the course of 7 days in and around Crestline, California. Julian Wass composed the film's score.

Release

The film will mark the Duplass Brothers' first film under their deal with Netflix. The film had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 12, 2016. Prior to, The Orchard acquired distribution rights to the film, and set the film for an October 7, 2016, limited release before opening through video on demand on October 11, 2016. It was released on Netflix on December 6, 2016.

Critical reception

Blue Jay received positive reviews from film critics. It holds a 92% approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on 24 reviews, with an average rating of 7.3/10. On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 69 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".