Directed by:
Nicole HolofcenerScreenplay:
Nicole HolofcenerCinematography:
Alar KiviloComposer:
Marcelo ZarvosCast:
Ben Mendelsohn, Edie Falco, Thomas Mann, Connie Britton, Elizabeth Marvel, Bill Camp, Charlie Tahan, Josh Pais, Natalie Gold, Michael Gaston, Victor Slezak (more)VOD (1)
Plots(1)
Ben Mendelsohn plays Anders Hill, a middle-aged man who has divorced his wife, Helene (Edie Falco), and surrendered the comforts of affluent family life for… well, he's not sure. Retired from work, freed from marriage, and largely abandoned by his adult son Preston (Thomas Mann), he seeks that liberating lightness he once had. But awkward dates prove unsatisfying, even with a woman as lively as Barbara (Connie Britton). Anders finds himself drifting towards adolescent adventures, trying to befriend his neighbour's teenage son Charlie (Charlie Tahan), and joining in risk taking he should have outgrown decades ago. (Toronto International Film Festival)
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Reviews (2)
An independent American depression, which I’d normally opt to watch in the late evening on Czech Television 2 as part of a film club dedicated to American independent film summer than on Netflix, where you wouldn’t expect such a boring drama.
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The standard Sundance / Toronto festival movie about the ugly crisis of a middle-aged white man with more than a successful career who seemingly had everything, but threw everything away and is now trying to find himself through a series of depressive escapades that include a lot of alcohol and weed. The movie follows a well-known pattern, which we already saw in countless similar movies that are made on a regular basis. This movie does not bring anything new and even the excellent cast (and the corresponding performances) does not change it much. The motives of the self-destructive middle age crisis are the cornerstone of many key quality TVs, which have so innovatively and consequently exploited this grateful motif in the last decade that films on this topic can hardly say anything ground-breaking today. And this one doesn't even try to do so. However, the Holofcener has one advantage that separates him from the rest of the midcult festival peloton; he manages to evoke a captivating sad mood, which, together with the unusually subdued Mendelsohn (even his trademark “Nicholson" scene of an angry explosion is absent), masterfully keeps it in area of solid above average.
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