Don't Read This on a Plane (2020)

Don’t Read This on a Plane: Directed by Stuart McBratney. With Sophie Desmarais, Victor von Schirach, Hildegard Schroedter, Dorotheea Petre. A drama-comedy about a novelist hitchhiking across Europe to complete her book tour after her publisher goes bankrupt.

“Jovanna Fey (played with a wonderful, coy, dry humor by Sophie Desmarais), is a struggling novelist who is about to embark on a book tour in Europe. One small problem though; her publisher alerts her by phone at the last minute before the tour launch that heu0026#39;s gone bankrupt. The plane tickets are paid for, but financially challenged Jovanna, (who now must cover the tax, food, accommodations, promotions, insurance, communications, and miscellaneous expenses), takes off anyway.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAfter staying for a mostly sleepless first night in a youth hostel, (been there, done that), she discovers the MOAF, Mattress on a Floor, organization. We follow Jovanna as she hitchhikes and wheels her bag over bumpy roads physically and metaphorically in this funny, provocative, imperfect slice-of-life film. We trail along as she makes her way from town to town, reading from her strange and alluring book in various bookshops from Venice, Porto, Burgandy, Budapest, Santorini, and Romania. These readings grew on me as the narrative unfolded like a slightly askew origami swan.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eJovanna gets no help from her husband who works as a cook on an off-shore oil rig with crackling, unfeasible phone reception at best. His job is twenty-eight days on, twenty-eight days off, which suits their marriage perfectly as they jump each other after their time apart and then are happy for their independence.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eAustralian filmmaker Stuart McBratney took risks that worked beautifully for me, and will not work for others, as is clear by the wide range of ratings. There is charming scene where Jovanna and a new friend talk about their favorite words. I could hug the writer for this spot on conversation. I highly recommend Donu0026#39;t Read This On A Plane for people like me who love quirky, slow burn, indie films, arenu0026#39;t expecting the norm, and enjoy a light, offbeat, character rich, meandering travel romp.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eClassic quotable line, u0026quot;The coin was wrong. But I had to flip it to find out.u0026quot;”