Largely liked by critics; largely ignored by the public, co-writer/director Ira Sachs’ film may be modest to a fault, but the bigger problem is that Sachs wears that modesty like a badge of honor. (Or is it a hairshirt?) Focused on new middle-school age pals Jake & Tony (they actually go to different schools), brought together when Jake’s grandfather dies and his parents (mid-list NYC theater actor Greg Kinnear; therapist wife Jennifer Ehle) inherit the Bkln townhouse where Tony’s dressmaker mom (Paulina Garcia) has long run an underperforming storefront shop. She needs the space; the new owners need a market-value rent; the conflict soon headed to the courts. It inevitably comes between the two boys’ friendship and everything turns messy, But under Sachs, that means neat messy, polite messy, fait accompli messy; while withholding the visual backing that should abet his storytelling. Why no tour of the new spacious apartment upgrade? Why make Garcia’s store look like a alterations/thrift shop, and its proprietress more seamstress than boutique designer? Was she always this dour? Was she ever the promising creative person Kinnear at least seems to have been as a young actor? The film plays like a New Yorker fiction piece you never get around to reading. Maybe that was Sachs modest hope all along.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT: It’s an uneven film, but George Roy Hill’s THE WORLD OF HENRY ORIENT/’64 works similar teen tropes from a girls’ mid-‘60s POV. (Plus Peter Sellers as a concert pianist who loses his place during a modern concerto premiere.)
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