Band Aid

A winning dramedy written, directed by, and co-starring actress Zoe Lister-Jones, Band Aid is both a serious relationship tale and a quirky, whimsical story about salvaging a marriage through music. Lister-Jones stars as Anna, a ride-sharing driver, wannabe author, and maudlin wife whose life and ambitions are stalled following a failed book deal and miscarriage. Her equally repressed husband, Ben (Adam Pally), a talented artist, is stuck in a dead-end job and he shares Anna's distress when they are in the company of friends with kids. With their love at an impasse, the pair decide to channel their mixed emotions through music, becoming a tuneful rock-and-roll band with the addition of a weird neighbor (a very funny Fred Armisen) on drums. Anna and Ben's music is actually pretty good, and one can see a growing spark that suggests a revival of romance. But the film's title has two meanings, one of which refers to an unrealistically simple fix for profound problems that have to be met head-on. Lister-Jones does an admirable job of balancing jokes with palpable desperation, and absurdity with vulnerability. She also has a striking sense of the power of her own image on screen, which is relatively rare in actor-directors. Recommended. (T. Keogh)