Come Early Morning

Come Early Morning is a beautifully rendered film about a southern woman in a small-town, rural community, a subject director Joey Lauren Adams obviously knows intimately. Delicately told, and rather efficiently related, it is the story of Lucy, a 30-something woman who keeps waking up with a stiff hangover and a guy she doesn't even want to look at. If coming to grips with why she keeps repeating this pattern isn't enough, Lucy also begins to realize that she needs to get in touch with her familial past and, more importantly, with the person she has become. Fueled by a perfectly nuanced performance from the gifted Ashley Judd, Come Early Morning is about life transitions, the search for love, and the burdens we carry with us. A portrait of simple truths that isn't archetypal melodrama, it steadfastly avoids wallowing in the depths of sentimentality or self-destruction. You can't help but appreciate this kind of storytelling for its directness, honesty, and qualities of toughness and heart that leave you wanting to know more as it plays itself out, following you into that part of your filmic memory reserved for distinction.