The Makings of You, also known as Never My Love, is a drama film directed by Matt Amato and starring Sheryl Lee and Jay R. Ferguson. The movie was shot in the director's hometown of St. Louis and is a "labor of love that includes some of the most beautiful images of his hometown ever captured on film."[1] It is the reunion of Twin Peaks alum Sheryl Lee and Grace Zabriskie as mother and daughter, who also produced the film, with production company The Masses. The director is releasing a reedited version of the film in 2021.[2][3]
Plot
Single mother Judy (Sheryl Lee) and consignment shop owner Wallis (Jay R. Ferguson) fall in love when they meet in Wallis' shop. Judy's mother Margaret (Grace Zabriskie) and her sons Roy (Grant Leuchter) and Eric (Gene Lesher) don't accept the relationship. This is an "uncompromisingly visionary and unconventionally methodical film (think Antonioni, circa 1960), reminds viewers that even the most dismissed areas of an often dismissed city can evoke heretofore unseen sparks of vibrancy."[4][5][6]
A version of the film was shown out of competition at festivals in 2015. Involvement with a fraudulent investor prohibited the movie from being released until the filmmakers were able to achieve legal resolution. In 2020, the director and editor were able to finish the movie as it was intended.[15][16]
Reception
"Amato is a radical filmmaker, willing to make a movie that travels like a river, or unfolds like a piece of music or a real human life, something that seems alien after we’ve slumped in theater seats, overdazzling our retinas with exploding cars and exploding planets. He realizes the transformative power of seeing—and not seeing. Of showing the full spectrum of a full human life, with a slice hidden in shadow. That unsettled, mysterious place makes room for the watcher but throws down the challenge to do more than just watch. Is this is a particle, or a wave? it asks. Who are you? What's in your pockets? And what do you see?"[17]
"This beautifully acted and photographed drama leaves a lasting impression. Amato, a veteran helmer of music videos, invests the proceedings with a subtle, dreamlike quality that gives the film an undeniable, but never stultifying, artsy feel. If you're not already in love when you see the film, you'll desperately want to be afterwards."[18]
It's been praised for its spectacular soundtrack, for its gritty, otherworldly atmosphere, and for its surprising love story—revolving around middle-aged blue-collar characters—that spirals out into something much larger.[2]
