San Francisco Jewish Film Festival 2019

[Chris Knipp]

GARRET PRICE: LOVE, ANTOSHA (2019) CAPSULE


ANTON YELCHIN IN LOVE, ANTOSHA

Capsule

When Anton Yelchin died tragically in a freak accident caught between his SUV and the gate of his house at the age of 27, all Hollywood was shocked. After watching this documentary, we understand what we lost. Behind his manic energy and baby face and boyish smile was a tireless creative mind and a searching intelligence. Many were touched by him, he was a great friend. We discover about his CF and how he fought it. CF shortens lives, and that's another reason why he seized life by both horns. We look into some of the 69 films he made (Star Trek, Green Room, Like Crazy) and we begin to understand why he was so beloved by his peers, like Chris Pine,Kristen Stewart, Jodie Foster, John Cho, Martin Landau, Jennifer Lawrence, and his childhood friends who remained very close. Of Anton's starring role in Charlie Bartlett (2008), when he was nineteen, I wrote "he reveals an abundance of charm and energy here. He doesn't have the subtlety or irony of somebody like Kieran Culkin--or Holden Caulfield--or the suavity of Matthew Broderick in Ferris Bueller's Day Off--but his character doesn't call for any of that." And that describes him in a lot of his movies, charm, eagerness, and fresh energy. But here we learn about his music, his still photography, his dark side, his journals, his attractiveness to women, and above all his enormous love for his Russian skater emigre parents, and his special adoration of his "Mamoosha." It was to her he constantly wrote, "Love, Antosha." He was just beginning, and this is a sad and touching and beautiful elegy.

Love, Antosha, 92 mins, debuted at Sundance Jan. 2019, and showed in at least four other domestic film festivals and some Jewish film festivals. It was creened for this review as part of the SFJFF. Theatrical release is slated for Friday, Aug. 2, 2019.
SFJFF showtime:
Monday July 29, 2019 6:00 p.m. Albany Twin