Landline

Second film from director Gillian Robespierre is the kind of movie that comes around less and less; about the inner-workings of the human predicament, specifically, two sisters that discover their dad is cheating. Set in Manhattan in 1995, its that time before everything we know today is almost ready to explode, just as each character is in that larva stage: the soon-to-be-graduating rebellious Ali (Abby Quinn) is smug and snarky and is unwilling to consider going to any college unless everybody wears a beret, smokes clove cigarettes and makes their own hummus! Older sibling Dana (Jenny Slate) is about to commit to being happily ever after but not just yet, as a case of cold feet has her rethinking her impending marriage plans. Edie Falco and John Turturro play the mid-life sagging parents about to redefine their relationship. And any movie that features a movie marquee where Kelly Reichardt’s River Of Grass is showing is after my heart! The opening line that hooked me was a comment: “It smells like a k.d. lang concert down there!” Plus when was the last time you saw a couple have sex on screen only to be watching The Devil Bat afterwards? Never! The kind of simple little movie that used to creep into college towns and arthouses without much fanfare, still does so – only now it stands out amongst the frenzied alien beatdowns and superhero spinner racks. Human frailty can still be lighthearted!

[R]