New Year's Day (1989) User Reviews

An interesting, if slightly meandering film.

[tawdry_hepburn · 6/10 · 26 June 2008]

New Years Day isn't a terribly good movie, but somehow, it's still endearing.

Starring a cast of no names, and an awful early performance by David Duchovny (as well as rather good Milos Forman), New Years Day tells the story of 3 young women about to move out of an apartment they have shared for years, and the man who is moving in. the four spend new years day together, (psychoanalyzing each other) because of a misunderstanding of what the meaning of "through January first."

The film has a decent set up, and other than Duchovny, the acting is all solid.

However, director and star Henry Jaglom apparently doesn't do scripts, he does giant flow charts. Consequently, his actors are forced to improvise, and generally become defined more by their bundles of neuroses than by any redeeming aspects.

Case and point for this affliction is a character who spends the entirety of the film's third act, where the girls throw a going away party, explaining repeatedly that he avoids the pitfalls of sleeping with his psychoanalysis patients by sleeping with them first, then becoming their doctor. The joke is cute the first time, but by the 4th time it has been told, no one cares anymore.

The movie is rife with moments like this. The worst of which is a suicide attempt that seems not only unrealistic, but also to have been included because without the scene the suicide attemptee would have absolutely no motivation or purpose within the story.

All the same, there is some definite underlying charm to much of it. Jaglom gives a wonderful opening and closing monologue giving the film, which otherwise just sort of starts and stops, a feeling of closure and weight. And the improvised dialogue is largely successful in creating a naturalistic atmosphere. However, if you don't already buy into the concept of Feud, Jung and Psycho Analytical theory, you will probably spend much of the film rolling your eyes.

If you just love Woody Allen and Robert Altman but have already seen all of their films, or just can't get enough stories about mediocre looking Jewish men discussing philosophy and becoming intimate with attractive women half their age, New Years Day is the film for you.

For everyone else, it's good, but not great, a little self important, and ultimately pointless.

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Dialogue: The Movie

[zwashington-32756 · 7/10 · 2 January 2021]

To Kick Off This New Year, I Wanted To Do A New Year's Centered Film. This Well-Written Indie Film Was Released To Mixed Reviews. That's Understandable Seeing How The Film Takes Place In One Setting And There Isn't Much Action. If I Could Give The Film A Different Title It Would Be "Dialogue: The Movie". Anyway, "New Year's Day" Follows A Writer Who Arrives At Apartment That He Is Moving Into Only To Find That A Group Of Friends Have The Apartment Through New Year's. He Decides To Stay For A Party They're Having Which Turns Into A Series Of Everyone Discussing Their New Year's Resolutions, Goals In Life, Desires, Temptations, And Secrets. It's A Breakfast Club Like Setup That Actually Showcases The Surprising Acting Talents Of Some Of The Film's No Named Actors And Actresses. The Dialogue Is Pretty Sharp And The Story Addresses Some Interesting Topics. I Like Films That Make Me Think, But What I Appreciate More Is A Film That Makes Me Relate. To Say The Least, This Was A Pretty Decent Film That I'd Recommend If You Can Handle 90 Minutes Of Fundamental Food For Thought. 68%.

For the diehard David Duchovny fan only

[Xenossia · 20 October 1998]

Face it. There's a four word explanation for why you *might* want to see this film. "David Duchovny as Billy". Unless this kind of self-infatuated dialogue-driven "action" is your bag. Maggie Wheeler, as Lucy, actually turns in a fine performance as well, but I have to tell Jaglom the same thing I'd tell Tarantino: "Quit putting yourself in your own films. It makes you look pathetic." And whether or not he's acting, Jaglom doesn't have Tarantino's sense to play an *interesting* character once he's in his own movie. He has to play the same annoying know-it-all, fish out of water. Now, back to David Duchovny. He plays a sex-addicted playboy, Lucy's boyfriend. Be kind, it's his first film, and strange to see him so young. But there's no denying who that wonderful voice belongs to. Oh, and halfway through, he pulls a full-frontal scene in the hall, right before he's kicked unceremoniously (and naked) out of the apartment. Watch this right before you watch the X-Files or another Duchovny film like "The Rapture", "Kalifornia" or "X-Files: Fight the Future." It's nice to see the progress he made as an actor. Even with this first performance, it's easy to see that Duchovny is an heir to the Buster Keaton throne of underacting.

"New Year's Day" is for a VERY limited audience

[lacyeire · 2/10 · 18 June 2005]

I have to say up front that I was, am and always will be a huge fan of "The X-Files"... at least the first seven years(the last two were perfectly dreadful, IMHO). However, I am also a lifelong film fan. From that perspective I can say unequivocally that Henry Jaglom's "New Year's Day" is barely watchable(again, IMHO). Admittedly, a 28-year-old David Duchovny's film debut is a slight point of interest, and his brief full frontal nudity scene a guilty pleasure for any number of females (myself included; to be honest, it's just about the only thing that made me rate this movie as high as a 2, lol). However,even that is not enough to make this movie worth the excruciating time it would take to sit through it. Jaglom, rest his soul, was well-known for self-promotion, and for talking viewers to death in his work. That is painfully evident here. As for Duchovny, to this day I consider him a better writer than actor, though I did and do love him as Mulder, as Jake in "Red Shoe Diaries" and as Dennis/Denise in "Twin Peaks". Beyond those roles, however, none of his films have impressed me that much, and his first effort is no exception. Maggie Jacobsen(later Wheeler, who had a recurring role on "Friends")was pleasantly watchable, but she could not save this mess of a motion picture. If seeing Duchovny's goods is all that interests you, still shots from this film are obtainable on the Net; don't bother sitting through this turkey otherwise. And unless you are a die-hard Jaglom fan the same holds true: don't waste your time.

Practically had me asleep

[Zoooma · 4/10 · 23 January 2014]

Okay, so maybe it's a little bit cliché to watch this on January 1 but I thought what the heck.

One motivating factor was that it's one of David Duchovny's first roles (he previously has one bit part in Working Girl.) He really was not yet a good actor at this point.

Maggie Wheeler (who played Janice in Friends) was alright but nothing here at all interested me whatsoever. Henry Jaglom's dialog driven excuse for a story is nothing more than vacuous and pretentious psychoanalytical drivel. I'm not sure Jaglom is for me because this bored the crap out of me.

---The Kat Pirate Screener. Arrgh!

One of Henry Jaglom's best

[elisereid-29666 · 10/10 · 8 July 2020]

This film begins with a question that does not completely become clear until the final monologue-what happens when you walk in the middle of somebody else's story, and become involved in it, perhaps deeper than you wanted to? Is there any changing of a trajectory once it gets past a certain point in time? Or is it best to just sit back and watch it all happen? Jaglom's character walks into a situation that three younger women are about to leave, and at first (once he resigns himself to his position) he wants to help correct the flaws in their lives, but eventually he realizes that they really don't need his help.

Henry Jaglom's films are interesting in that they are disproportionately populated by complex, interesting women that are surrounded by guys that are mostly creeps. The male-to-female ratio is the opposite of most movies that don't qualify as "chick flicks" (and no, I would not count this or any of Jaglom's others as such), and yet it sees the gender dilemma more clearly than in any film by any other filmmaker that I've seen. His films are an exploration of interpersonal relationships between women in a way that every other (male) director shies away from...which is partly why his films remain relatively obscure, and so many critics view his work with suspicion.

Is New Year's Day perfect? Not quite. It has a few too many characters and a few moments that don't fit in with the rest of the picture, but boy did it make me think and feel. The final reel is as much a roller coaster as I've ever been on outside of an amusement park, and just when you think none of it can be tied together, it all unfolds perfectly logically.

The filmmaker Glenn Gordon Caron described his writing process being protracted by waiting for "the truth" in the situation he is writing about. Meaning, the twist in the plot that makes you go "Aha!" and realize how everything that came before it makes so much more sense, and yet, in a way you would never have foreseen. New Year's Day's "truth" unfolds in the most beautiful way I've ever experienced in any form of media, and more than makes up for its shortcomings.

another Jaglom movie about how great he is

[bbraat · 2/10 · 5 June 2005]

We can tell that what a tyrant director/writer Jaglom is by how all the characters in his films speak exactly like he does. They all speak in a strange halting matter. Are they from France, Italy, California, New York? It doesn't matter. According to Jaglom, all those people speak in the same strange cadence in which Jaglom speaks. They all use the same words and expressions with no individual character development. Jaglom might just as well have spliced together a movie of himself playing all the parts. Hey, Jaglom, try observing real people and listening to how they talk.

(***I hope this isn't too much of a spoiler***) How can you figure out who Jaglom's love interest will be? Just check to see who is the best looking 25 year old woman in the cast. She will, for no apparent reason, fall for the balding sixty-year old. Maybe it does make sense since they both speak in the same manner, breaking up their sentences every 5 words or so for no apparent reason except for the director's belief that everyone in the world speaks like he does.

Jaglom reminds me of a director with whom I once worked. My director was such a control freak that he would insist on giving line readings to every actor for every line. NOTE: a line reading is an instruction by the director telling the actors how to say a line, including stress, pauses, speed. He was also the writer and had the second biggest acting role. If he could have he would have physically played every part. Actors are not just sock puppets waiting to be controlled by the writer/director/star.

Jaglom's inner-Woody Allen, as stated, is channeled but not fully realized

[StevePulaski · 8/10 · 1 January 2014]

New Year's Day is what happens when a filmmaker channels their inner-Woody Allen. What you get, as a result, is sort of a mish-mash of visions and a predictably talky affair about a man moving into an apartment in New York after leaving the hustle of Los Angeles in order to continue his life as a writer. Upon arriving at his apartment, he discovers the former tenants - three young, yuppie girls - have yet to move out, misinterpreting the lease that says they must move out by January 1st, not stay in the apartment on January 1st.

In the normal world, the tenants would likely pack up and leave. But since they exist in a drama, they must stay and strike up a conversation with the frazzled, neurotic (!) writer that has graced their presence. The girls get a look at a different side of a male - the less confident, quirky side, while the man gets a look at life and young, impulsive love in the Big Apple. The man is Drew (Henry Jaglom, who serves as the writer and the director as well) and the girls are oddball Annie (Gwen Welles), simplistic Winona (Melanie Winter) and love-struck Lucy (Maggie Wheeler), who is crying to be independent and released from the shackles of her overprotective parents.

Drew connects with Lucy the most, admiring her young impulsiveness, as well as her braveness in terms of facing the world head-on. Her father warns her that packing up and moving away from her girlfriends and looking for a job as a model may result in her being hurt or manipulated, however, it doesn't bother her and believes she can handle being hurt. Meanwhile, Annie deals with the idea of leaving her girlfriends, when there may be something more to that. The last act of the film consists of a party at the apartment, thrown by the girls as a combination between a going-away party and a party welcoming the new year.

The first forty-five minutes of New Year's Day have a kind of fly-on-the-wall perspective I rarely tire of. The film makes us the invisible character at this gathering, at four different characters at a variety of stages in their life and tries to force us to make a connection in some way, shape, or form. Jaglom does this by dialog and a lot of it. The conversational beauty of New Year's Day stems from its improvisation, probably the only way this film could've been successfully done. The film has the natural fluidity of day-to-day conversations, while not forgoing the film's plan, which is showing Drew at his most cynical and neurotic point in life while showing the three girls at their most vulnerable and indecisive.

Furthermore, the film vaguely illustrates the concept of a generation gap I would've liked to see more of. The film sets itself up to play like a picture that showcases character debates based on different stages in their lives and the age difference of the characters (the man is in his late forties, while the girls are in their mid-twenties). However, despite a lot of talking, rarely does it boil down to that. Drew doesn't offer his own moral take on what the girls are doing. For a film with a lot to say, it unfortunately neglects a key-element of the storytelling.

The film's dialog is often potent, in terms of realism and fluidity, however, occasionally uninspired and clearly trying to convey some form of directorial/screenwriter artistry. Consider the scene when Drew talks with Billy (David Duchovny in a very young role), Lucy's boyfriend. The scene should address the generational differences between the two characters but instead focuses on self-absorbed conversation that tries too hard to be artful and more than it is. This is when Jalom's channeling of Woody Allen becomes more evident than ever. Unlike Allen, who can take any character and throw them in any setting with practically anything interesting to say that will always come to a certain point, Jaglom circles around his characters, almost never coming to a distinct point other than to showcase lengthy bouts of dialog.

New Year's Day is an enjoyable indie session, but after fifty-five minutes, it begins to become exhausting, all the more when we're introduced to numerous characters at a party that seem to be nothing more than empty vessels that want to start drama despite all the dialog they spew like sewers. Jaglom illustrates an interesting setup - resolutions, life-altering decisions, and personal struggles on one of the year's most loved days. His inner-Woody Allen, as stated, is channeled but not fully realized.

Starring: Henry Jagolm, Gwen Welles, Melanie Winter, Maggie Wheeler, and David Duchovny. Directed by: Henry Jaglom.