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83%
Overall Rating
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Ranked #14,984
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Jeff Yeardley is a self-absorbed, middle class programmer who loses his wife and son when his affair with a co-worker is revealed. Jeff struggles to find a new job amid the U.S. economic recession, but the reputation of sexual harassment follows him. While trying to reform and win back his family, Jeff is targeted by two colleagues who trap him in a dangerous game of temptation.
--IMDb
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Review by Ginose
Added: June 9, 2010
There are lines that I feel no man is capable of crossing in the world of film. Lines of BROAD moral boundaries being one of the most obvious, as I don't think it's truly taboo to put anything in a film (or any piece of art for that matter), as long as we all know that it is for the good of art.
I don't think there's any subject matter too disturbing or too touchy to not have a place in film, as a broad vision is a very important part of art in itself. Then, of course, I come across a film like "Yeardley". An impressive project, no doubt, and, in many ways, a great accomplishment in and of itself; there's so much packed into its fairly short running time that I felt both rushed and drained by the end of it, but infinitely impressed with everything I saw. In its excellent execution, however, "Yeardley" provides something I haven't felt fro ma film in a long time: Genuine disgust.
Now, I relish the feelings that film can provoke in an individual, and I certainly can't take a thing away form this one for doing just that, but the queasy feeling of uneasiness that it causes is something that has definitely stuck with me since my viewing and is hanging over me heavily all the while in writing this. Seriously, I can't remember the last time I've needed a drink so very much.
Jeff Yeardley is a programmer... or, was, until he was let go from his most recent job after his last sordid affair resulted in a sexual-harassment suit. Disgruntled and afraid, Jeff heads home only to discover that his wife and son are already packed and ready to leave. Left with nothing but an envelope filled with a separation agreement Jeff struggles to find a new job, feeling that this suit hanging over his head is like a huge "Don't Hire Me" sign. Eventually, after a few rough meeting with social workers he finally settles on a job offered by his friend, on the condition that the past does not repeat itself.
After a bit of exposure to the office, two of his female co-workers end up deciding to start a contest to see who can sleep with him first, the results are... definitely the last thing Jeff needed.
First, let me get this out of the way, "Yeardley" is a low-budget film with a low-budget look, no doubt, however: DO NOT LET THAT DETER YOU. The budget of "Yeardley" has no effect on the wonderful performances, powerful story and impressive visuals. The very punch of this movie lies less in its presentation in more in its emotional merits.
There is hardly a moment wasted in the ever-hardening life of Jeff, and this pace certainly helps to make every moment all the more destructive; perhaps this is most obvious in the scenes that appear to be moments of levity and possible resolution to all of Jeff's problems, as resolved by his own accord. Then, bam, out-of-left field something smashes his reality and knocks the wind right out of the viewer's room.
Besides being a gripping, well-acted and powerful film, "Yeardley" has its share of problems, specifically with not knowing where to say "when". The constant barrage of dark themes, tones and plot elements are fantastic when paralleled with the collage of inviting visual-style, but the depths to which it sets itself becomes almost predictable when certain less than believable plot-devices occur, making the film's resolution shocking, but no less obvious.
It's a fantastic film, but "Yeardley", inevitably, suffers from how much it wallows in its hatred and bleak-outlook, making it impacting, yet predictable before the final reel.
I'd still advise it to just about anyone because, love it or hate it (and many, MANY people WILL hate it) it will stick with you.
You will not forget "Yeardley".
9/10.
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