| B | Austin Film Festival 2021 |
This was originally a Tony-winning play that then got turned into this movie. And certainly it sounds like one–I feel like playwrights write dialog like no screenwriter does. (Mamet and Sorkin came to mind here, both of whom were originally playwrights.)
What I enjoyed most was all the interactions between the family members. The script shifts the characters around into different groups, and skillfully bounces each group between laughter and tears the way only family members, knowing each others flaws and fears, can. And all of the actors did terrific jobs (including Amy Schumer in a non-comedic role)!
Regarding the direction: On the one hand, the apartment was definitely an additional character. Many scenes were shot through doors and down hallways, impressing us with the narrow, cramped space (even with almost no furniture). On the other hand, there were a lot of close-ups of things while people were talking over them. Many of these shots showed ugly aspects of the apartment: quickly applied pipe insulation, paint bubbles on the walls, … I suppose this was an extension of the apartment-as-a-character aspect but I felt it was overused. On the first hand again, the director did something tricky at the end with the apartment set that was very intriguing.
In the end, there were some layers I know I missed about the big ending. That’s probably my inability to look too far past the literal but I still felt a little left out, as if I’d been dropped off shortly before reaching the destination. But I would still recommend this movie based solely on its depiction of this flawed, barely functional family.
