I had heard of this when it originated as a short film in 2009, being up on Vimeo, directed by Gillian Robespierre, and starring a not totally-known Jenny Slate as a young woman who gets dumped, has a one-night-stand, gets pregnant, and has an abortion. It was full of heart, funny, touching, and Slate was totally charming with her cartoon voice and normal girl face. I even liked how the dialogue in the abortion waiting room scene was very reminiscent of Kevin Smith dialogue, a la Chasing Amy, with characters connecting through shared histories of knowing the same people from high school.
The film became a feature in 2014, and even though the story doesn’t reflect mine totally, I found the film deeply relatable. Part of it was Slate’s performance, but I think it was the writing of a character who is near thirty and doesn’t have a direction in her life, and I was definitely like that, working a lot of assorted nowhere jobs in my twenties before I figured out that being an archivist was right for me at age 29. This film just grabbed me, and I’ve watched it several times, and I find it funny and comforting to watch as a fractured romantic comedy. Richard Kind is so wonderful as Slate’s dad, with a puppet jump scare that makes me laugh every time, and Gaby Hoffman was fantastic as Slate’s deeply real best friend, I loved their chemistry and bond together. It’s just one of my favorite films of this decade.
No comments:
Post a Comment