Jack Goes Boating (2010)
(Philip Seymour Hoffman, US 2010, 89 min., 35mm)
In Philip Seymour Hoffman’s lone film directorial effort, he takes on the title role of Jack, a lonely New York City limo driver. Jack works for his uncle at the limo company, but is looking to strike out on his own, applying for a job at the Transportation Authority. When a new love interest, Connie (Amy Ryan), enters Jack’s life, he begins to take interest in other activities. His co-worker Clyde (John Ortiz) decides to help him learn how to swim and sets him up with cooking lessons to impress Connie, but Clyde’s own relationship with his wife, Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega), is at a crossroads, and may have disastrous effects on Jack’s life. With a kind, easy brush, Hoffman paints Jack’s life as a mixture of reality and visualization, suggesting what might have been with future directing projects.
The Philip Seymour Hoffman film series is supported by James Declan Tobin on behalf of the Sumner Roy Kates Charitable Trust.