Written and directed by Yannis Zafeiriou, co-written by leading actor Josh Allen Goldman, a clueless wannabe star moves to LA and goes viral for all the wrong reasons, only to evolve into a slightly less terrible version of himself. Also starring: Dylan Rourke, Laura Juliane May, Noelle Messier, Carrie Gibson, William Goldman, Liliana Castro, Tamara Rey and Ryan Vigilant.
One of the elements that gives you a strong insight into what’s ahead with Namas Dei: The Tucker J. James Story is the opening song choice. It’s odd, unusual and offbeat which perfectly matches the tone of the film. Yannis Zafeiriou and Josh Allen Goldman dive quite quickly into a wonderfully delusional sense of humour. They establish immediately how blissfully unaware Tucker (Goldman) is, it’s sweet and naïve but also just the right amount of moronic. They give the atmosphere and his character a strong bumbling enthusiasm which is absolutely the driving force to the film and keeps you invested to discover either his downfall or success.
Josh Allen Goldman instils in Tucker this blind, bright optimism and confidence. He manages to give him a classic underdog feel, while you’re never going to believe Tucker is the greatest actor in the world, you don’t question entirely that he can act. Credit goes to Goldman for making it so convincing, that he’s neither great nor terrible, making it so he has an ability, even if he’s lacking the finesse and elegance.
There’s also a really good supporting cast behind him, Dylan Rourke effortlessly taps into that bro feel, with a mix of vanity and genuine support and friendship. Noelle Messier is great as Tucker’s agent, she has a certain messy, unpredictable quality which keeps her interesting and a touch mysterious. Laura Juliane May nicely taps into that wellness trend influencer type, while giving her character a self-awareness with a tad of manipulation which is well done. Carrie Gibson is terrific as Tucker’s mother, Liliana Castro adds in a strong note of sarcasm and disapproval as his roommate. It’s a shame that Tamara Rey only has a small role because she is utterly charming.
Everything works, both the direction and writing really dive headfirst into that early vlogging era and the days before people learned more lessons about sharing every detail of their life online. However, not all of the in jokes for the era land strongly and it hits some rookie stumbling blocks with how it uses the runtime. There’s a tendency to let scenes run on long after they’ve made their point clear, there are also certain scenes in the latter half of Namas Dei: The Tucker J. James Story that become quite repetitive. There’s a fair amount of making the same point from too many perspectives which dulls the impact of the comedy and slows the pacing down too far.
Namas Dei: The Tucker J. James Story is a fun concept led by an endearingly clumsy and enthusiastic performance from Josh Allen Goldman. The atmosphere is bursting with a charmingly naïve energy and Yannis Zafeiriou goes all in on the vlogging style with the direction to give it an authentic feel. It’s just slightly indulgent with its runtime, slowing itself down too much and going over the same ground a few too many times. It needed a slightly sharper hand in the editing room to speed things up and further embrace the chaos but it’s still a solid debut feature from Yannis Zafeiriou.
FilmCarnage.com 