Sam Now (2023)
SHOULD I SEE IT?
YES
A haunting, yet poignant and moving film, Sam Now is one of 2023’s best documentaries.
Blends multiple camera formats in a search for answers from the past and present. The film, at times, feels like a combing of memories.
Stays with you long after the movie concludes. Takes us into a world without judgment, yet hopeful and seeking answers to why the family matriarch simply left the family with seemingly no notice whatsoever.
NO
May be triggering for those with a deep fear of, or personally experienced, abandonment in their lives.
Some may feel the experimental nature of the film distracts from, or gets in the way of, the overall storytelling components.
Audiences could be left frustrated with more questions than answers, despite the fact that the Harkness family might in fact exist in the same situation.
OUR REVIEW
A poignant and beautiful exploration that balances loss and hope in equal measure, Sam Now, from director Reed Harkness, is a decades-long journey of a family simply asking, “Why?” - to one another, to their partners and loved ones, and to an individual who they haven’t seen in years.
That individual is Jois, a mother to sons Sam and Jared, and stepmother to Reed. Separated from husband Randy, the family, though adjusting to a new life, has carved out something that works. Or so they thought. Even with Jois active in her children’s lives, one day, in the year 2000, she simply left. She reconnected during Christmas of that year, but then…she was gone again.
Sam Now may technically be Reed’s feature-film debut as a director, but in reality he has been making movies his entire life. With an 8mm device or videocamera filming at all times, Reed has seldom been absent a camera for much of his life. He made countless short films with his half-brother Sam, including an ongoing series of adventures dubbed Sam One, Sam Two, and so on. With Sam Now, Reed, along with masterful editing from Darren Lund and longtime friend Jason Reid, infuses numerous clips of the two brothers making movies on the beach, in their backyards - anywhere they could find a place to be creative.
Sam’s alterego, the superhero “Blue Panther,” plays a role in the biggest movie they would set out to make. After Jois’ departure, at Reed’s suggestion, the brothers decide to make a film about the Blue Panther going on a mission to find her.
With its hazy, fuzzy rock and roll music cues, and near-perfect blending of Super 8 footage with videocamera clips and current, present-day conventional lensing, one may think that Sam Now becomes a mishmash of styles - a film that seems to perhaps be all over the place in terms of tone and feel and presentation. Far from it. Reed Harkness’ approach to telling this deeply personal story is fascinating to study in how it has been constructed, giving space for some levity, but also providing ample foundation for the emotional mystery the director is investigating.
The film gets very raw at times, but never accusatory. Part of the power which comes from viewing Sam Now is this almost persistent level of hope and optimism that guides the decisions Reed makes, not just as a filmmaker, but also as a child and as a brother searching for answers. He also loves Sam, and the film exists very much as a testimony to all he has endured and the struggles his mother’s absence has placed upon him.
Balancing notes of youthful exuberance with a more gripping intensity, it’s as if Sam Now matures along with its subjects. Spanning approximately 25 years, the film shifts its focus from curiosity to pain and confusion to trying to accept and adapt to a place of ambiguity for all involved. Clearly, Jois leaving punched a hole in the Harkness family. Ultimately, as questions are addressed and answers and motivations are brought to light, the hole remains. The question is how easy it is to navigate around it and co-exist with it always present, always top of mind.
I had the opportunity to first see Sam Now in 2022 prior to the documentary being nominated for the Seattle Film Critics Society’s inaugural Excellence in Pacific Northwest Filmmaking Award. Having viewed it multiple times, and recently again for this review, I am struck by how gentle and affirming the film is while also grappling with difficult traumatic events. What stands out to me in my most recent viewing is how, years later, everyone is still reeling from Jois’ departure.
Suffice to say - whatever healing has occurred for the Harkness family, it remains clear those wounds may never truly close.
CAST & CREW
Documentary Featuring: Sam Harkness, Reed Harkness, Jois Harkness, Jared Harkness, Randy Harkness, Doris Harkness
Director: Reed Harkness
Written by: Reed Harkness
Story Consultants: Heather Hawksford, Darren Lund, Jonathan Raymond, Jason Reid
Release Date: April 7, 2023
Film Independent/Sam Now, LLC/ITVS International