Lovable

The movie is a collection of interviews of women who are single at later stages of life. The interviews are intertwined with the filmmaker's own thoughts on his extended bachelorhood.

The movie has little fanfare, it lets the emotion come pouring out. Not in a bloodletting way, more of "let's look at this rationally" way. The style and tone of the movie really lets the depth of the concerns of single-too-long people really come to the forefront.

The movie feels long. At first it seemed funny - like that silliness one gets when they realize they are about to be emotionally exposed - but then the humor was overcome by the length. At 101 minutes, it isn't long by many standards. The tempo isn't tedious. It just seems long and endless.

But this is for good effect. It emphasizes the burden these people feel and the pointless emptiness of being alone. It's not like they are suffering a disease and the race is one for a cure, it's not like there is redemption for the missteps that led them to their state.

The most curious element of the film is that the filmmaker is always in a mirror because he's always behind the camera. There seems to be some kind of commentary there, nevertheless it seems like there's a wall between he and all of his female interviewees. (There isn't a lot of dialog in the movie - it's nearly all monologues.)

It's a documentary, not a drama. It is plain but not "raw." It states the obvious, there isn't a discovery. It's certainly not a first date movie, it isn't something you want to watch after a breakup.

I hope I don't wind up in a sequel but there's a woman or two in my past I'd nominate for a role in it. ;)