Anytime executive producer Charlie Kaufman is involved in a production, even in the most minuscule of ways, one has to take notice. His films Anamolisa and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind rank amongst my favorites of all time, and this year’s Orion and the Dark was a clear standout earlier this year. Now, Kaufman puts his name behind writer/director Naomi Jaye’s bold new vision, titled Darkest Miriam. Those familiar with Kaufman’s work will see another throughline here in the form of a complex character drama overflowing with quirks and authentic moments of truth. A connection between two people that will change both of them irrevocably, and yet, the mystery behind a set of threatening letters creeps in with a sinister edge. Darkest Miriam spends time getting us acclimated into the weird library world of Miriam (Britt Lower, Sisters, Mr. Roosevelt), then pays off its slow burn with layered charm.
Jaye’s adaptation of the book, The Incident Report by Matha Baillie, finds a zippy visual flair to follow its many intricacies. We follow Miriam seemingly at a low point in her life, teetering somewhere between hopelessly depressed and coasting aimlessly. Her greatest outlet comes from her day to day duties as a branch librarian. Observing the various regulars, tending to people’s needs, cleaning up after particularly messy customers, fetching dentures someone left behind, filing incident reports whenever necessary… it’s all in a day’s work for Miriam. Miriam discovers a frightening note, threatening that “soon you’ll see what I’m capable of.” The writer claims the name Rigoletto, after the classic opera villain. Who are they, and what do they want with Miriam?
During her lunch breaks, Miriam sits idly with an apple, and spots cutie Slovenian foreigner Janko (Tom Mercier, The Animal Kingdom, We Are Who We Are) on a nearby bench. In happenstance, Miriam catches his eye again another time. He offers to show Miriam his artwork sometime, carefully noting that he has seen her around the library. One thing leads to another, and Miriam ends up over at Janko’s apartment admiring his strange technique. Janko’s artwork is bold and textured, not unlike the man himself. His openness about his background and outgoing personality clash splendidly with Miriam’s retracted nature.
The chemistry between Mercier and Lower bolsters the rom-com angle. Through the eccentricities of Miriam’s day-to-day work at the public library, Janko can relate, as he has equally strange experiences on the regular due to working as a taxi cab driver. Early on, Miriam defines many of her regulars in quickly paced broad ways. There is suitcase man, piano girl and her mom, even a man with dementia. This makes for one of the most engaging sequences in the film. Almost anyone can relate to weirdly nicknaming folks they see on the regular; it is only when Janko tries to ask personal questions that Miriam practically shuts down. Delving into darker territory, the latter half of Darkest Miriam loses the whimsy ever-so-slightly.
As Miriam attempts to figure out who has left her these eerie notes, she grows inextricably closer to Janko. Whether one loves or hates this relationship will probably hinge on their feelings towards the movie at large. The mystery swirls, yet hoping for a tidy resolution will probably yield nothing but disappointment. My biggest issue seems to have been rooted in the source material anyway, causing a conundrum of where the blame may fall. Though the ending is really one of the weaker elements, the power of its imagery may be a sucker punch to the soul. Character-driven dramedy at its finest, Darkest Miriam will speak to loners everywhere.
Darkest Miriam screened at 2024’s Tribeca Film Festival.
Sounds like a cute offbeat romcom but you mention dark/sinister elements. Is this like R rated with violence/nudity, or just dark psychologically?
I haven’t seen or read it but to me it doesn’t sound like a ”cute romcom” at all…