5 Flights Up (2014)

A long-time married couple who've spent their lives together in the same New York apartment become overwhelmed by personal and real estate-related issues when they plan to move away.

Director:

Richard Loncraine

Writers:

Charlie Peters (screenplay), Jill Ciment (book)

Stars:

Diane Keaton, Morgan Freeman, Cynthia Nixon

1 win.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Diane Keaton	...	Ruth Carver
Morgan Freeman	...	Alex Carver
Cynthia Nixon	...	Lily Portman
Carrie Preston	...	Miriam Carswell
Claire van der Boom	...	Young Ruth
Korey Jackson	...	Young Alex
Michael Cristofer	...	Larry
Diane Ciesla	...	May
Josh Pais	...	Jackson
Maddie Corman	...	Friendly Lady
Miriam Shor	...	Cool Lady
Gary Wilmes	...	Mr. Vincent
Liza J. Bennett	...	Mrs. Vincent
Ted Sod	...	Mr. Rahim
Sterling Jerins	...	Zoë

Storyline

A long-time married couple who've spent their lives together in the same New York apartment become overwhelmed by personal and real estate-related issues when they plan to move away.

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Plot Keywords:

real estate | new york | flat | husband wife relationship | veterinarian | 

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Taglines:

The best moves in life are the ones you make together.

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

PG-13 for language and some nude images

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 May 2015 (USA)

Also Known As:

Life Itself

Filming Locations:

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$6,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$238,491, 10 May 2015, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$1,013,061, 21 June 2015

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lascaux Films, Latitude Productions, Revelations Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

88 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Based on a novel called "Heroic Measures," it was renamed "Life Itself," then "Ruth and Alex," then "5 Flights Up."

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Goofs

The central characters say (two times) that they are buying an apartment on 1st Avenue and 77th Street and when they enter the apartment (also two times) it's clearly off Amsterdam Avenue on Cathedral Parkway, which is around 110th Street in West Harlem/Morningside Heights - more than 2 miles from where they are supposed to be. These two neighborhoods don't look alike at all.

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Quotes

Alex Carver: Who would have thought that the whole of my life's work would be worth less than the room it was painted in?

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Connections

Featured in AFI Life Achievement Award: A Tribute to Diane Keaton (2017)

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Soundtracks

The Very Thought Of You
Performed by Diane Keaton
Written by Ray Noble
Used by permission of Range Road Music, Inc.
O/B/O Itself and Quartet Music and Biestock
Co Publisher Chester Music Ltd. Trading as Campbell Connelly & Co.

User Reviews

Unmoving

There are several ways to create dramatic interest in film, not all are reliant on the old theatrical modes. There are docudramas and movies that are like magazine stories, which narrate stories over several decades to give a complete tale.

Scorsese said once that he thought American movies were more like magazine articles with pictures in that they told a story rather than created drama. From the director of "Casino", which really is the magazine style movie par excellence, that is an insight.

It is possible to create tension and engagement with this style, even when reduced to a small episodic tale. In books this can work well because the author does the meta-narration, which is the interpretation of action. It is a difficult task to make cinematic and so it is with 5 Flights Up, or Ruth and Alex.

While this style may work on the page, in that clear, bland, non-style of glossy magazine commercial fiction, its lack of a center leaves the movie vacuous. Superficially, the story of moving apartments and juggling brokers might seem enough but it isn't. It's too mundane and property is a weak idea to make an entire movie function. Imagine if Lady Macbeth and the Thane of Cawdor had got into a castle moving story: she preoccupied with cleaning up the blood stains for the new tenants, he unable to move all his knives, shields and swords out to make the castle look bigger.

This is a small, dull film, with all the pace and visual qualities of wallpaper paste. It has frittered the talents of its cast. Ruth and Alex is a very slight story that didn't really deserve to be made into a film and doesn't deserve anyone's time.