Gravitas Ventures has acquired the North American distribution rights to "The Seven Faces of Jane." The experimental and experiential road movie stars Gillian Jacobs, Anthony Skordi, Chido Nwokocha, Sybil Azur, Emanuela Postacchini, Daniela Hernandez, Joel McHale, Caroline Ducrocq, Breeda Wool, Soledad St. Hilaire and Joni Reiss.
The film had an interesting origin and is the product of multiple directors. It was made by a group of filmmakers that includes Jacobs, Gia Coppola, Boma Iluma, Ryan Heffington, Xan Cassavetes, Julian J. Acosta, Ken Jeong, and Alex Takacs. It follows Jane (Jacobs) as she leaves her daughter at a sleepover camp and steps away from her mundane life on an exciting road odyssey. Each part of that journey was created by a different filmmaker, and each director operated from the initial premise of the story, with some ground rules. However, the genre, tone, pacing, additional characters, and any other narrative details they chose were entirely at their discretion. They were encouraged to express their unique vision, creative spirit and style as artists, working without knowing what others were doing. Each segment of Jane's journey was then pieced together to form a complete feature film.
Directors: Julian Acosta, Xan Cassavetes, Gia Coppola
Writers: Julian Acosta, Xan Cassavetes, Ben Del Vecchio
Stars: Gillian Jacobs, Joel McHale, Sybil Azur
The Seven Faces Of Jane is an interesting concept on paper, but the directors' conflicting visions make it confusing and disjointed. Still, Gillian Jacobs is wonderful.
Gravitas Ventures will release the film on January 13, 2023 in theaters and on demand. “I am very pleased that Gravitas will distribute the film and give our eight talented directors a platform to share their stories,” said Roman Coppola, one of the film's producers. "'The Seven Faces of Jane' has an adventurous format with multiple short films coming together as one, so I'm grateful that Gravitas understands our vision and is as excited as we are to share it with viewers across the country."
"We are delighted to partner with Gravitas Ventures on the launch of 'The Seven Faces of Jane,'" said Allison Amon, a producer. "They are strong advocates of unique, independent storytelling and are the perfect partner to bring our film to audiences across the country."
“Gravitas is excited to bring 'The Seven Faces of Jane' to theaters and homes this January. This anthology highlights the directors' unique visions while presenting the talents of Gillian Jacobs in a way that is rarely seen,” said Bill Guentzler, Senior Director of Acquisitions at Gravitas Ventures.
Guentzler negotiated the deal with UTA's John McGrath and Mikey Schwartz-Wright on behalf of the filmmakers.
The Seven Faces Of Jane takes a movie and divides it into seven segments, each directed by a different person. In the opening scene, Jane leaves her young daughter, Molly, at summer camp for a week, and what follows is a strange recap of the days that follow, until she finally picks her up from camp. She crosses paths with exes, picks up a hitchhiker, and even goes to therapy. There's a lot going on here and it's often hard to keep up with it.
While the concept is certainly interesting, it's pretty apparent that the different directors had no idea what each other was doing. In theory this is a fun experiment, but in reality it makes for a very jarring and incohesive movie. There are pieces of a whole story here, but it never fully comes together.
In fact, at the end of the movie, it seems like too much happened, but nothing happened either. It's a weird, twisty, bizarre plot line that's often right up my alley. The biggest problem here is that the segments never connect in a way that makes sense. It sounds like some sort of anthology, and the fact that it's supposed to take place over a week actually doesn't make sense. Each story is so different that even the main character of Jane feels like a whole new character as each piece of the puzzle unfolds.
That being said, Gillian Jacobs (who plays Jane) is wonderful. She does a great job of following the directors' direction and essentially becoming someone new each time Jane transitions into a new part of the story. It's clear that she dove right into the role and said nothing to the director about where Jane's journey has taken her thus far. Jacobs also directs a segment herself, and her take on the film and the character of Jane is perhaps what made it her best segment.
Fans in the community will be thrilled by the reunion between Jacobs and her co-star from that show, Joel McHale. The two have not lost their chemistry and it is a complete joy to see them interact together on screen again. His story, being one of the best.
Watch The Seven Faces of Jane 2022 Movie Trailer
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