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Calista Flockhart fans may enjoy this tour de force for the popular television actress, who plays a free-spirited young woman struggling with drug addiction. The story is told from the perspective of Horace (Christopher Peditto), a struggling young writer who works as a bartender in a transvestite bar. When they meet, Jane (Flockhart) has the word "urgent" stamped on her chest. They quickly--maybe too quickly--fall into a relationship, cemented when she agrees to model for Horace in a series of morbid tableaux--a bloody body in a bathtub, a dead body sprawled on the sidewalk, a body stabbed to death in bed--which he photographs and then writes tabloid-style blurbs about. Meanwhile, they giggle, frolic in the streets, and play sexual games, such as when Jane dresses in a French maid outfit and does an erotic dance for Horace. But gradually Jane's addiction turns worse and their relationship becomes more and more troubled. Though Horace does all he can to help her kick her habit, things only turn worse.
Jane Doe's script rambles and Peditto's performance is monochromatic, but Flockhart throws herself into her role with admirable abandon. The film also features Elina Löwensohn (
Nadja,
Simple Men, and many other Hal Hartley movies) in a small role.
--Bret Fetzer
