In Memory of My Father

Lately, I’ve been seeing a lot of small films about family gatherings. They all take place over a period of between one and three days, and they feature a lot of yelling and underpants. In Memory of My Father is an ultra-low-budget version of this quintessentially low-budget genre, though it does feature semi-stars Jeremy Sisto and Judy Greer. A Hollywood producer has just died, and on his death bed, he has bribed one of his three sons into making a documentary about the people who come to see his corpse. The film that follows is a selection of vérité-style shots of the houseguests drinking, arguing and becoming naked for adult interests. Sisto is, as always, compelling, and Judy Greer is funny in a sitcom sort of way. The weakest link in the film is Christopher Jaymes, who wrote, directed and plays the lead. His reactions early on are seemingly nonsensical and unmotivated, and later, his weepy act lacks credibility. There’s nothing particularly wrong with this film, nor is there anything particularly right with it. It maintains a made-for-cable movie quality throughout, which I guess is more than we could say about the McCain campaign.