Zoe Lister-Jones’ “Band Aid” is one of those films that is just out there enough that is plausible. She directs, writes, produces, and stars in this independent film that showed at Sundance and I caught at the 11th Dallas International Film Festival as she plays Anna, the wife of Ben (“The Mindy Project” cast member Adam Pally). They are constantly at each other’s throats and decide that the best outlet for their arguments is to turn them into song and form a band with them. Accompanied by their quirky neighbor and drummer, Dave (Fred Armisen), they find both solace and a larger fire that stems from this newfound way of what they think is a solution to their issues when it is actually shining a brighter and more focused light on them.
Filled with both seriously potent emotion and laugh-out-loud moments, I found “Band Aid” to be one of my favorite films of DIFF 2017. Lister-Jones and Pally have great chemistry as a couple that is just trying to get past the various issues that they face so they can get back to the place of simply enjoying each other’s existence through everything (and I mean EVERYTHING). There are also some great supporting performances here from Armisen (whom I am a HUGE fan of) as well as longtime standup comedienne Susie Essman (also a HUGE fan) as Ben’s mother that feed what Ben and Anna are dealing with that much more.
With strong storytelling, real characters, and well-structured performances, “Band Aid” is a film that both married and single people can relate to at some point, and when this gets released to the public through IFC Films, take some time out and see it!