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“…[Don Jon] takes the bold step of centering the narrative on the character least equipped to articulate his feelings; even during the voiceovers that pepper the film, there’s a bro-ish frankness that requires the viewer t…](https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/54353e41e4b02f8e532bc3e5/1434019114295-LV24ZU6XETT8VXU045X7/image-asset.jpeg)
“…[Don Jon] takes the bold step of centering the narrative on the character least equipped to articulate his feelings; even during the voiceovers that pepper the film, there’s a bro-ish frankness that requires the viewer to piece together what’s really going on. From the first beat, we’re introduced to Jon’s porn routine, in explicit detail; when he talks about why he finds it so thrilling, though, he’s nearly lost for words. He describes it as losing himself, a time where he can tune out from the rest of the world—a peculiar framing of absence, rather than the presence of anything in particular. We witness the same visual beats as he does, in flashes so brief that they provide empty titillation; a direct shot of arousal without navigating any of the complexity you might find in another human.
Joseph Gordon-Levitt stars and directs, and the film is aggressively centered on his character throughout. Once his routine has been established – a blind and brash dedication to his body, his pad, his ride, his family, his church, his boys, his girls, and above all his porn – in come the elements intent on messing with that routine, forcing him to question his dependence on the steady beats to which his life thumps along.
In the Don Juan myth, the protagonist’s predilection for womanizing and violence meet with calamitous results, and his total refusal to repent ends in his eternal damnation. Popular interpretation casts the story as not just a lesson in humility, but also a finger-wagging promotion of chastity, and it’s on this point in particular that Don Jon evolves considerably. Without spoiling too much, Jon’s bad boy makes good by the end of the ninety-minute running time, but there aren’t any huge, teary confessionals – in fact, the film takes a dim view of these, turning Jon’s Catholic remorse into yet another routine.”
—Chris Fraser, Habitual Emotion” (Issue #9, Feb 2014)
This is me!