Starting Out In The Evening

Director Andrew Wagner brings us ‘Starting Out In The Evening’, a heavy hearted meditation on art, love, ageism and parenthood. The film stars Frank Langella as Leonard Schiller, an aging novelist and professor, Six Feet Under’s Lauren Ambrose as bright eyed grad student Heather Wolfe , and Lili Taylor as the professor’s middle aged daughter, Ariel.

When Leornard and Heather first meet, it is in a rather unassuming diner in a city that looks much like yours and mine. Ambrose, a woman who dreams of being like “Joni Mitchell, or Joan of Arc”, shines opposite Langella as she sings the praises of his past literary works and informs him that she is very interested in doing her master thesis on his books. While he seems genuinely flattered, he informs her that participating in such a project would detract him from his current novel which he feels an urgency to complete. This urgency becomes a reoccurring theme when it comes to the aging professor, who, at seventy years old, feels his days ticking away.

But despite the professor’s insistence on not being able to help the young grad student, Heather’s ambition is simply undeniable as she manages to nudge herself into his life, finally getting him to agree to her proposition.
Heather’s admiration for Professor Schiller seems to transcend his scholastic achievements, however, and soon their work relationship blooms into something much more substantial.

Leonard’s relationship with Heather is juxtaposed with his involvement in the life of his daughter, Ariel. Ariel’s love for her father is very apparent and the two spend time together by browsing bookstores and attending literary readings. The two seem very comfortable with each other, though it is obvious from early on that there are, in fact, waves of turbulence churning just below the surface. Like most fathers, Leonard’s choice for Ariel’s love interest does not exactly match her own, and we spend a good deal of the film exploring her relationships with Victor, a successful lawyer, and Casey, a bohemian artist with whom Ariel has had a troubled past with.

Starting Out In The Evening is a film that will make literary enthusiast giddy as multiple references to great authors of the past are thrown out continuously. To say that this film is consciously pretentious though would be selling it short and limiting its depth. What we have with Starting Out is a mature film that, in my opinion, succeeds in it’s desire to show the frailty of age, the importance of family, and the toll that a life without risks can have on your soul.

To be sure, Starting Out is not a perfect film, but it’s intentions are at once pure without seeming forced. Perhaps it’s only fault can be that it seems to not take the risk the characters speak of so passionately. The wings never seem to completely soar, instead hovering just slightly above the ground throughout most of the film. It does, however, show moments of true honesty, and it is this type of vulnerability that makes films like this, though flawed, absolutely worth every minute.

Starting Out In The Evening is in theaters now.

Juno - “Oh My Blog!”

Welcome! And we start with a light hearted romp into the world of teenage pregnancy, youtube, iggy and the stooges, and one Diablo Cody, who’s zippy script flows as smooth as silk on the screen, yet may not have enough substance to keep your attention for more than a few days.

Juno succeeds simply because it tries so hard. It’s script is devoid of any truly divisive moments and instead relies on the chipper cynicism of youngster Ellen Page as she creates the titular character, Juno. This cynicism and reliance on one liners conveniently coats any true moments of drama and character exploration, making director Jason Reitman’s piece more at home with films such as The Lizzie McGuire Movie than say Rushmore (director Wes Anderson’s film about another high schooler with a particularly dazzling vocab.)

And yet, Juno does possess a certain unmistakable charm. From the get go, Juno’s interaction with her cast is one of layered jokes and speedy deliveries. With lines like “That ain’t no Etch-A-Sketch. This is one doodle that can’t be un-did, Homeskillet.” delivered from the likes of Rainn Wilson, it’s hard to stay bored.

But perhaps the cast is one of the problems I have with the film. I can’t recall in recent memory a film that has a leading character so loved and admired by all around her. When the whole world seems to hold hands to sing the praises of Juno, I personally find it hard to join in on that circle.

The plot, as I mentioned earlier, is sweet enough. The film casually glides on its journey following Juno as she deals with her recent pregnancy, to her decision to place the child up for adoption, onward to all the hi jinx of meeting the future parents while at the same time finding in her heart her true adoration for track star, Paulie Bleaker, played sheepishly by Arrested Development’s, Michael Cera.

And still, as smooth as it goes down, Juno simply doesn’t hit me on much of a visceral level. I laughed when I was supposed to, I got the pop culture references, and the soundtrack…Well the soundtrack actually made me cringe, but that I can forgive. A movie like this is usually ripe with horrible tunes.

Juno is somewhat of a contradiction. Youngsters with Webster’s vocabulary. Cynicism surrounding lightheartedness. Simplicity hiding behind pseudo intellectualism. Sure, you can take this for what its worth and enjoy it as plain entertainment. Just don’t hold it against me if I’m not anxious to talk about it much with you.