UNLOVABLE

Gamechanger Award, Special Jury Recognition, 2018 SXSW Film Festival
Best Narrative Feature, 2018 CAAMFest

One bottle of cough syrup in, Joy decides that life is hard and death is easy. She pens her innermost thoughts in a highlighter-written suicide note, “She died doing what she loved: wanting to DIE.”

An ode to the destruction, manic excitement, and absolute clumsiness that recovery and growth bring, UNLOVABLE is the endearing story of Joy (Charlene deGuzman) who decides to seek the help of a sex and love addict support group after running her personal and professional life into the ground. During a 30-day lockdown in the guesthouse of her sponsor Maddie (Melissa Leo), Joy discovers a set of drums in the garage of Maddie’s awkward brother, Jim (John Hawkes). With Jim’s natural music sense and Joy’s desire to change herself, Jim and Joy start a band, and with every snare hit and D-string pluck, their non-verbal communication teaches Joy that real intimacy may not even include speaking, let alone touching.

Based on her own battle with sex and love addiction, co-writer deGuzman and director Suzi Yoonessi capture the utter disarray that 20-somethings bring to the table. They remind us that sometimes friendships bloom in the hardest of times with the strangest of people but end up being exactly what you need the most.

– Aleya Zenieris