Last night I attended a preview for Joseph Gordon-Levitt's new film 'Don Jon', in which he stars as the character 'Jon'. Gordon-Levitt's not only stars in this, but he also wrote the script and directed it. When I first saw the trailer I was a bit sceptical, I thought that this was just another actor using the method acting approach and writing a role in which he gets to be all over attractive actresses.
The film is centred around the life of Jon, a man that has established a life he appears to be happy with. His sources of happiness are as he says "my body, my pad, my ride, my family, my church, my guys, my girls and...my porn". This film has an 18 certificate due to the explicit content. But, the sexual content wasn't used too much, there was enough to establish why porn is so important to the character without it becoming a smutty film. As the film progressed I realised that his character is actually struggling through life. He aims to please everyone in his life, his friends, family, his faith and girlfriend. Jon is put under a lot of pressure by his mother to find a girlfriend so she can finally have grandchildren, by his friends to maintain the 'player' role he has achieved and adopted, and by his girlfriend wanting him to be the man she believes she deserves. Whilst Jon has little he does truly for himself, with the exception being his addiction to porn. Jon tries to maintain his beliefs in his faith, something he has grown up with. He seeks forgiveness for the 'sins' he commits on a weekly basis. And when he finally believes that he is making progress and is happier with the person he becomes, his church still sees some of his actions as sins.
I was really surprised by this film and how much I actually enjoyed it. I witness a character evolve and grow up before my eyes, from a man not necessarily worth knowing turning into a man you could actually respect. Jon stops serving others and attempting to make them happy. Instead he opts to follow his own path, making up his own rules and finding real happiness in places and within other people he wouldn't have expected. This film is out in cinemas on the 15th of November.
