Nostalgia Without the Safety Net

Read Time:5 Minute, 18 Second

MOVIE REVIEW
Mustard Man
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Genre: Comedy, Drama, Coming-of-Age
Year Released: 2024
Runtime: 1h 48m
Director(s): Roman Lynch
Writer(s): Roman Lynch, Zach Mund
Cast: Zach Mund, Albert DiCesare, Joseph Arioto, Ben Jacobsen, Annessa Buggy, Arianna McCarty
Where to Watch: available now, stream here: www.amazon.com

RAVING REVIEW: What do you do when adulthood shows up before you’re ready and doesn’t bother knocking? MUSTARD MAN opens on that question and never even wants to pretend to give you all the answers, which turns out to be one of its strengths without question. This is a film less interested in milestones than in drift, less focused on triumph than on the space between adolescence and something permanent. The film is a coming-of-age story that offers the audience a chance to feel the experience rather than just watch it on camera.

The story centers on KJ Jackson, played with vulnerability by Zach Mund, a college dropout who returns home only to discover that home no longer exists as he expected. That displacement sets the tone for the film, but also allows it to breathe. Nothing here is catastrophic, but everything feels slightly off, and that disorientation becomes the film’s passion. Rather than rushing toward resolution, MUSTARD MAN lets its characters sit in uncertainty, giving the film a grounded, settled quality rare in low-budget coming-of-age stories. The heart here is half the journey, and then some.

The comparison points are obvious and not entirely avoidable. The film openly gestures toward the lineage of hangout-centric youth stories such as ALMOST FAMOUS and DAZED AND CONFUSED. But it avoids imitation by refusing to romanticize the period it’s depicting. This isn’t nostalgia as comfort food. It’s nostalgia as something unfinished, something that feels meaningful in retrospect. Roman Lynch’s direction understands that distinction and resists the urge to manufacture big moments where smaller, quieter ones will do.

Where the film truly separates itself is in its relationship with music. The original soundtrack, written and performed by the cast themselves, isn’t treated as background texture or an ironic counterpoint. It’s integral to the characters’ identities. The band doesn’t exist to decorate the story; the story bends around the band. That choice adds genuineness, but it also gives the film a sense of authorship that can’t be faked. When the music lands, it lands because it belongs there. If you like the way this film plays with music as a character, I can’t recommend the Prime Video series, THE RUNAROUNDS, enough!

Albert DiCesare brings a necessary contrast as Rodger, whose confidence feels learned rather than inherent. His performance helps prevent the ensemble from blurring together, and Joseph Arioto and Ben Jacobsen provide additional structure without turning the group into archetypes. Annessa Buggy’s Jessie adds a presence that keeps the film from collapsing inward on male introspection alone. The ensemble works because it feels like a group that’s actually spent time together offscreen, and that carries the film through its looser stretches.

At 108 minutes, MUSTARD MAN sometimes lingers a little longer than it needs to, especially in scenes that reiterate moments that the audience has already taken in. The film’s commitment to realism means it occasionally resists shaping its material with a firmer hand. Some viewers will appreciate that restraint; others may feel the narrative momentum soften more than necessary. Ultimately, I think trimming 10-15 minutes could make a huge difference.

Those moments feel like the byproduct of a film choosing honesty over efficacy. Lynch doesn’t rush toward closure or artificially throw chaos at the screen. Instead, he trusts the audience to stay with the characters even when they aren’t moving forward as we might expect. That trust won’t work for everyone, but it aligns with the film’s core. Growing up, as depicted here, isn’t a straight line. It’s a series of half-steps, pauses, and wrong turns that only later resemble progress.

What’s most impressive about MUSTARD MAN is how clearly it understands its own scale. With a microbudget and a debut-feature framework, the film doesn’t aim for extravaganza or emotional manipulation. It focuses on atmosphere, performance, and specificity. That focus pays off. The film feels handmade in the best sense, marked by the fingerprints of the people who made it rather than by borrowed ambition.

As an indie coming-of-age story, MUSTARD MAN doesn’t redefine the style for the future. Still, it earns its place through honesty, musical integration, and a willingness to let its characters exist without forcing them toward a predetermined conclusion.

This lands as a strong first feature and a promising vision of what this creative team can do as their resources grow. It’s imperfect, occasionally wandering, but anchored by genuine performances and a clear emotional point of view. For viewers who remember that strange, unsettled stretch between who they were and who they were supposed to become, MUSTARD MAN hits!

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[photo courtesy of MERLIN PRODUCTIONS BOULDER]

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