Very pleasant shallow meditation on doing unto others. Really excellent acting from a trite little script. Minimal amount of unnecessary direction. Good date movie.
The potentially maudlin subject matter is treated with some levity and some gravity, as the director steers a Sofia Coppola-lite course through vaguely defined relationships. A world is created in which nearly nothing is demanded of the viewer but faith. Faith, because most of the usual movie clues - story progression, character development - are in short supply, especially for the second twenty minutes.
It's no light matter to tell a good story with facile characters and no plot. In normal movies I have to want to know what's going to happen next. In this sort of tone poem, I have to trust the writer, director and actors to keep the world interesting. This script features what should be a showstopper - no real decisions necessary from any character. A choice-free plot. Even "Lost in Translation" had hard choices. But this works on a less stimulating level.
Okay, the surprise character reveals are no surprise; the convenience of the leggy neighbor is a little too convenient; but the mishandling of these elements somehow does not destroy the show. This is not the deepest exploration of any of its themes - loneliness, emotional instability, loss, kindness - but it is good because it tells us important things, if rather simply. Also because when it insults, it does so gently. Kind of like "Little Miss Sunshine," with a less offensive climax.
The potentially maudlin subject matter is treated with some levity and some gravity, as the director steers a Sofia Coppola-lite course through vaguely defined relationships. A world is created in which nearly nothing is demanded of the viewer but faith. Faith, because most of the usual movie clues - story progression, character development - are in short supply, especially for the second twenty minutes.
It's no light matter to tell a good story with facile characters and no plot. In normal movies I have to want to know what's going to happen next. In this sort of tone poem, I have to trust the writer, director and actors to keep the world interesting. This script features what should be a showstopper - no real decisions necessary from any character. A choice-free plot. Even "Lost in Translation" had hard choices. But this works on a less stimulating level.
Okay, the surprise character reveals are no surprise; the convenience of the leggy neighbor is a little too convenient; but the mishandling of these elements somehow does not destroy the show. This is not the deepest exploration of any of its themes - loneliness, emotional instability, loss, kindness - but it is good because it tells us important things, if rather simply. Also because when it insults, it does so gently. Kind of like "Little Miss Sunshine," with a less offensive climax.