JT LeRoy

It's 2001 San Francisco. Savannah Knoop (Kristen Stewart) visits her brother Geoffrey Knoop (Jim Sturgess) and his wife Laura (Laura Dern). Laura writes the novel Sarah under the pen name JT LeRoy with a picture from a thrift store. It's a fictional biography of a nameless abused boy whose mother Sarah is a prostitute in West Virginia. Laura has been giving a voice to JT on the phone and now she wants to use Savannah as the physical presentation of the boy. Laura pretends to be JT's British assistant who controls his every move. Eva (Diane Kruger) is a fan taken with the mysterious JT.

I'm getting a little tired of Kristen Stewart's intense reticent. She keeps doing the same moves. Savy is not the most compelling protagonist in this story anyways. This really has to be Laura's story. The only way to place her concluding speech in any context is to show her life. Savy doesn't seem to have agency at the beginning. It doesn't make her that compelling until she starts taking charge of herself. Whenever Eva comments on their phone calls, I keep thinking that the phone calls should be done on camera. Savy is the second or third most interesting character in her own story. It's an interesting story nevertheless.

I'm not familiar with the real story underlying this movie and the source material, but the very idea of it is fascinating. In terms of a narrative concept, it's fantastic groundwork for a full-length feature. A strong cast has been assembled, which is to say primarily Laura Dern and Kristen Stewart, but certainly also the supporting cast including Jim Sturgess, Diane Kruger, and more. The adapted screenplay developed between director Justin Kelly and author Savannah Knoopis wonderfully strong, filled with very complicated characters, wired dialogue, varied and tense scene writing, and a duly compelling, satisfying narrative. The crew working behind the scenes made fine contributions, including costume design, hair and makeup, lighting, cinematography, and editing. All the component parts are here for what should be a rich, absorbing viewing experience. So why does it feel like 'JT LeRoy' just never quite hits its mark?

To be sure, this is enjoyable, and I appreciate what everyone involved put into it. In every instance that could or should inspire a "eureka!" moment, however, the epiphany fails to arrive. Dern gives a dynamic, harried performance as Laura Albert that bursts with personality; Kruger isn't far behind, as Eva's obsession with JT increasingly jeopardizes the charade. Stewart's complex role as Savannah gives her an opportunity to once again demonstrate the controlled nuance that we know she has the skills to embrace. However, none of the acting truly pops with the vibrancy that would help to make the film the most impactful that it could be; it seems like the cast are somehow restrained from giving 100%. Similarly, the very premise is rife with drama; as the course of events progresses and wildly spirals out, the fiction woven by the characters increasingly teeters on an edge, making the viewer wonder just how it's all going to fall apart. In some indistinct way, however - even as slight airs of psychological drama flavor the edges of the plot - the utmost vividness is more brilliant in concept than in execution, almost as though the movie is coming to us through several panes of dirty glass. The full brunt of the story just isn't communicated.

As one last insult to injury, the final scene feels tacked on almost as if it were an afterthought, and it doesn't meaningfully add to the picture. The end result is a title that starts with a fabulous notion, but never especially seems to advance beyond it; it's very pretty mud that these wheels are stuck in, but they spin uselessly nonetheless. I don't dislike 'JT LeRoy,' and I do think it's quite worth watching on its own merits. All the same, the impression I'm left with is that we're just not getting the full power of what this may have been, and I'm a little disappointed. If you have the opportunity to watch then it's worth 110 minutes of your time - however, I just don't feel that this is something you need to go out of your way for, even if you're an especial fan of someone involved.

A one-word review of 'JT LeRoy' could simply be: "Almost."

I had never heard of the story of JT LeRoy before watching Justin Kelly's "Jeremiah Terminator LeRoy". It's certainly a fascinating story, even if the movie never totally hits the mark in telling the story.

The strong point is the performances. Laura Dern, Kristen Stewart, Jim Sturgess, Diane Kruger and Kelvin Harrison put on excellent performances. I guess that if there's a problem, it's that the whole story was too much to fit in a movie; maybe it would've worked better as a miniseries.

All in all, it's not a bad movie, it just feels incomplete. I do recommend the movie, even if it never fully lives up to its potential. I'd say that in the mid-to-late 2010s, Kristen Stewart fully broke away from that vampire franchise that was nothing but an espousal of Mormon ideology.

"The truth," said Oscar Wilde "is rarely pure and never simple." This is the case in the true story and stranger than fiction tale of Savannah, a real life avatar for the fictional author JT LeRoy. When JT writes a best seller about his life as a gender mysterious truck stop sex worker, there is intense pressure for the author to reveal himself. Savannah (Kristen Stewart) is convinced by her sister-in-law, the real author, to pose as JT. Savannah does this well, in fact too well. She plays JT for years, falls in love as JT, and the story gets to the Cannes film festival before Savannah is outed as a fraud. But JT is loved for giving people the freedom to be whoever they want and to explore the darker regions of the human experience, and such will never die. Sometimes lies are truer than the truth.

JT LeRoy is fascinating and relevant because everyone, to one extent or another, wears masks and no one is really who they say they are. The film explores how something like JT could happen, primarily with regard to Savannah, and the ramifications for the people involved. Stewart does a wonderful job in the role. Surprisingly, 90% of the film was shot in Winnipeg. Savannah and Justin Kelly attended the same Toronto international film festival showing that I did.

The overall actors,acting,storyline & cinematography was average.

Didn't know this was based on a true story,regardless doesn't improve the movie.

If you're a fan of any actors in this,worth your time to watch.. Still,perhaps not!