Review: Band Aid

Marriage on film has seen plenty of depictions but Zoe Lister-Jones' offers a completely original and new take on the trials of matrimony. In Band Aid, she creates a daring, raw and funny portrait of two people who love each other but have fallen into a rut of fighting. In order to work it out, they decide to form a band and write about their fights. 

Zoe Lister-Jones wrote and directed the film and also stars as Anna who is married to Ben (Adam Pally). The two actors have a natural chemistry together and they feel as though they have a real history together. This help fuels the film's musical performances in which everyone is truly playing and singing. 

When Anna and Ben decide to form a band about their fights, they quickly realize they need a drummer. They enlist their odd neighbor, who they call Weird Dave (Fred Armisen). Soon they are hitting the open mic night and managing to reconnect in a way they haven't for a long time. The film is unique in the way it uses the creative process as marital therapy but it is believable due to the honest portrayals at the center of things. 

The songwriting works only so far to repair their relationship. If the film has anything routine about it, it comes in this third act. However, this is a minor knock on an otherwise fresh romantic comedy. Pally and Lister-Jones have such a natural chemistry between them. You can feel their love and why they want to make things work. 

Lister-Jones announces herself as a unique voice in the genre with Band Aid. The film is funny, charming, touching, and energetic at its best moments and semi-familiar at its worst. The film is a must-see as so few films explore the patterns of behavior married couples fall into. 

4/5