“Harry Potter’s” Luna Lovegood, Evanna Lynch, hasn’t broken out to be the major star one might have assumed, but she shines as a depressive, real-world answer to Luna in the Irish film “My Name is Emily,” now streaming on Amazon. In Simon Fitzmaurice’s assured writing-directing debut, a young Emily frets over being labeled “weird” by schoolmates, but her dad (Michael Smiley) assures her that there’s nothing wrong with that.
But it’s a mixed blessing that her only close relationship is with her parents, and when her mom is killed in a car crash and her dad – a psychologist who is a rogue in his industry for his emphasis on sex — is taken to the nuthouse, Emily goes into a shell. Classmate Arden (George Webster) tries to draw her out, while dealing with family troubles of his own. Emily finally agrees to let him drive her up north to break her dad out of the mental facility.
That’s the extent of the plot, as “Emily” is more interested in being an ephemeral mood piece. Fitzmaurice uses the melancholy beauty of Ireland’s geography and the tragic undercurrent of its history as metaphors for the inherent sadness of being human.
“Emily” significantly improves upon its script with Irish countryside and seaside shots and an indie soundtrack, and it gets extra style points for the voiceovers from Lynch, who has an adorable accent that a listener could float away on. Emily, as her inner monologue tells us, sees life as a journey toward death, and can’t break free of that numbing perspective. It seems like the perspective of a middle-aged screenwriter more so than a teenager – and I don’t think it’s an accident that the duo’s mode of transport is a classic (and slow-moving) car with an 8-track player — but it works because of Emily’s recent losses.
Seen from the perspective of Arden (the P.O.V. that viewers with a crush on Luna Lovegood will adopt), “Emily” alternates between a cautionary and wish-fulfillment tale about pursuing a particularly sad and inaccessible version of a Manic Pixie Dream Girl. Emily’s particular quirk is that she believes there are no facts, only widely held opinions; Arden remains intrigued and frustrated by this girl. The leads have good chemistry, but a viewer never gets a firm sense of where this relationship is going, or if it even is a relationship.
“Emily” falls short of other films in this subgenre – the bar-setting “Garden State” (2004), for example, where the leads have more give-and-take – because it dances upon the surface of its themes rather than digging into them. It might resonate more if you’re intimately familiar with Ireland’s history, although you can’t do much better than 2002’s “In America” for an art-house film that personalizes the broad cultural feeling.
Like a pretty sad song or piece of gallery art, “My Name of Emily” is rich enough to be worth experiencing. It probably won’t stick as a classic of the genre, but it’s a fine calling card for Fitzmaurice and a welcome opportunity for “Harry Potter” fans to see more of Lynch.
