Come Early Morning

First off, let me confess to a little crush on Ashley Judd, starting with Ruby in Paradise (but not encompassing all the crap Hollywood product she has “graced” with her presence.) Here’s another indie in which she gets to play a real woman, instead of a femme-in-jeop or female revenge fantasy, and a film made by another woman to boot. Joey Lauren Adams is probably best known as the Amy of Kevin Smith’s Chasing Amy, but here makes a creditable debut as writer and director. The film is a little schematic in showing how a strong but believably flawed thirtysomething woman deals with the men and the women in her life on the way to finding a life of her own, and furthermore the sense of place amounts to little more than “down south” without further specification. The country music soundtrack is a plus, however, and figures into the story with meaning, climaxing wordlessly in a tune played quietly by Ashley’s uncommunicative Dad. She’s been holding off other men, emotionally if not sexually, in the futile hope of re-connecting with her father, and avoiding the fate of her disappointed and delusional female relatives. But she’s strong, and will find a way to be her own woman. That’s the template. But hey, the lines are colored in vividly by Ashley and a good supporting cast. It will not surprise you much, but you won’t mind the company. (2006, dvd, n.) *6* (MC-64.)