Band Aid fights it up through music

Zoe Lister-Jones as Anna, Adam Pally as Ben and Fred Armisen as Dave in Zoe Lister-Jones’ BAND AID. Courtesy of IFC Films. An IFC Films release.

Band Aid is a funny relationship comedy where the fights are done through music.  The movie throws a new perspective on love in cinema.

Written, directed, and produced by Zoe Lister-Jones, the film stars Lister Jones, Adam Pally, Fred Armisen, Susie Essman, Retta, Hannah Simone, Ravi Patel, Brooklyn Decker, Angelique Cabral, Majandra Delfino, Colin Hanks, Chris D’Elia, Jamie Chung, Erinn Hayes, Gillian Zinser, and Jesse Williams.

Actress/writer Zoe Lister-Jones makes her directorial debut with this cute indie film about a couple, Anna and Ben (Lister-Jones, Adam Pally), that keep having fights to the point in which they decide they should write songs about their fights.  The decision, with the hope of saving their marriage, to write the songs comes after visiting their therapist (Retta) and she tells them to work through things in a non-traditional way.

Ben’s mother, Shirley (Essman), keeps bothering them to give her a grandchild.  Ben hasn’t told her the news that Anna previously had a miscarriage.  This is while all their friends are having children.  There’s no mistaking that this is an area that’s been rough on them.  They finally break the news to Shirley and she stops pressuring the two.

Needing a drummer, they decide to invite their weird neighbor, Dave (Fred Armisen), to join their band.  The couple later learns that he’s a sex addict.  All the music was filmed live for the authentic feel.  With all the fighting between Anna and Ben, Dave wants to leave the band because his parents fought all the time and he doesn’t want to be around the atmosphere.

At a time when we’re seeing some excellent filmmaking from female directors, Lister-Jones continues that strength on both on screen and behind the camera, where she does so with an all-female crew.  Lister-Jones made the movie as a way to explore the gender dynamics in a long-term relationship, and tonally, she wanted to see what would happen if Cassavetes had made a comedy.

Band Aid is a film about a home, and what it takes to cultivate that sacred and often fragile space,” Lister-Jones says.  “It’s a film about art, and love, and rock and roll. And how we find light amidst the dark.”

Band Aid premiered earlier this year at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.  IFC Films opened the film with a limited release on June 2, 2017.  It will start playing at the Music Box Theatre in Chicago on June 16th.  For a complete list of theaters, please click here.

Danielle Solzman

Danielle Solzman is native of Louisville, KY, and holds a BA in Public Relations from Northern Kentucky University and a MA in Media Communications from Webster University. She roots for her beloved Kentucky Wildcats, St. Louis Cardinals, Indianapolis Colts, and Boston Celtics. Living less than a mile away from Wrigley Field in Chicago, she is an active reader (sports/entertainment/history/biographies/select fiction) and involved with the Chicago improv scene. She also sees many movies and reviews them. She has previously written for Redbird Rants, Wildcat Blue Nation, and Hidden Remote/Flicksided. From April 2016 through May 2017, her film reviews can be found on Creators.

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