There’s a point late in Magic Hour where a character speaks to the idea of kindness being the ultimate answer for how to deal with anyone. It’s a sentiment that’s almost too ideal to stand behind and not at least see as a little silly (I blame the times and not myself). However, writer/director Jacqueline Christy also undercuts it with a throwaway line from another character. Magic Hour is an enjoyable comedy-drama because it seems to come from an honest place. Even when the film flirts with playing things a bit broadly to make a point, the characters, as written, maintain a level of authenticity that works especially well when supporting the movie’s good intent.
Miriam Shor stars as Harriet, a once-promising filmmaker who stepped away from living her dream early on and now lives as a working wife and mother in New Jersey. Things aren’t great. Miriam’s husband, Bob (Josh Stamberg), is cheating on her and wants a divorce. Her teenage daughter Emma (Cameron Morton) is growing increasingly distant. And Hareit just received a demotion at work. The solution: finally give her dream a second chance by secretly enrolling back into film school.
The work to get to this point and the actions that follow are very funny. While we are understandably annoyed by Hariet’s situation involving her cad of a husband and other means of demeaning her, there’s fun to be had in seeing her make a big decision (that comes at a cost) and jump headfirst into making student films and befriending other artists. I may have been a bit shaky on really seeing the need for Harriet to hide this choice from her daughter beyond making more drama out of the inevitable reveal, but it did little to detract from the appeal of seeing this journey take place (the deception also leads to one of the funniest line readings of the film).
It’s the second half of Magic Hour where things become more serious. That’s not to the film’s detriment, as there’s still a lot of great character interaction and entertainment derived from the film’s choice to make most of the people closest to Harriet an ally in one way or another. Instead, the film builds up tension surrounding what Harriet encounters once given the chance to actually make a film. While Magic Hour is almost frustratingly too nice of a film to lean more into what effects toxic behavior (specifically from men who assume power) can have on a person’s physical and mental health, you really do feel for Harriet when watching her get within close distance of realizing one of her ultimate goals.
Something I really admired about this turn in the story is the level of control director Christy gives Harriet, and how well Shor performs the role. With the exception of moments tilted toward comedy, Harriet doesn’t resort to theatrics as a way of making it clear how she’s feeling or why we need to feel sorry for what she’s going through. There are circumstances that may seem over-the-top in terms of how much villainy may be afforded to another character, but I can only imagine are tame compared to an even truer reality of what goes on with certain film sets. Through it all, however, while Harriet’s character arc involves building up her self-esteem, there’s an inner strength reflected in how she handles herself.
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On top of all of this, we get solid supporting work from Morton as her daughter, Sendhil Ramamurthy as a new love interest, and Joy Suprano as Trish, the woman Harriet’s husband is cheating on her with, yet is given actual agency to this story, as opposed to being something more venomous. Other fun character actor actors pop up here and there as well, filling out the world of this film, and adding a nice sense of color to an already pretty solid screenplay.
While there’s only a nugget of truth regarding Christy’s connection to this story (she also came into filmmaking at a later stage), I can appreciate a film like this that wants to feel comfortable in the way it rests its weight on Shor’s lead performance. An indie film like this can “get away” with positioning a story around this type of character, and the movies are better for it. That doesn’t mean it’s suddenly more realistic or that the film is serving as a missing piece, but it does speak to the joys of having a grounded comedy-drama with simple stakes and a lot of charm to get wrapped up in, whether watching at magic hour or any other time of day.
The 40th Santa Barbara International Film Festival will be taking place from February 4 to February 15, 2025.
