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★★★☆☆
28 May 2017
A movie review of GOLDEN EXITS. |
“I guess the bloodline is dead,” Nick (Adam Horowitz)
Cataloguing emotional middle class disappointment is only interesting while GOLDEN EXITS is funny. Post-humour, the movie runs aground. A shame, as the dialogue generally zings. April in Brooklyn, the story commences with Naomi (Emily Browning) singing ‘New York Groove’ a cappella. Two parallel stories of middle class ennui emerge, who have their fragile accord disquieted by Naomi’s appearance. The lead is self-aware enough to realise she causes havoc, but not enough to stop it. Naomi is a magnet. Men and women hit on her. She is just out of an intense relationship, and vulnerable to infatuation. So many filmmakers love dropping in an outsider to shatter the harmony.
Cataloguing emotional middle class disappointment is only interesting while GOLDEN EXITS is funny. Post-humour, the movie runs aground. A shame, as the dialogue generally zings. April in Brooklyn, the story commences with Naomi (Emily Browning) singing ‘New York Groove’ a cappella. Two parallel stories of middle class ennui emerge, who have their fragile accord disquieted by Naomi’s appearance. The lead is self-aware enough to realise she causes havoc, but not enough to stop it. Naomi is a magnet. Men and women hit on her. She is just out of an intense relationship, and vulnerable to infatuation. So many filmmakers love dropping in an outsider to shatter the harmony.
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Adam Horowitz, Beastie Boys legend, dweebs it up enjoyably. Spectacles, hanging from his neck on a string, fix from the front. Unclipping them is his hilarious signature peacock seduction move. One can imagine the character played by Ben Stiller. Nick (Adam Horowitz) has had an affair, and the marriage waters have barely been stilled. Adding to the friction, he is employed by wife Alyssa (Chloë Sevigny) and sister-in-law Gwendolyn (Mary-Louise Parker).
The scene is set for emasculation and awkwardness. He is an archive specialist, and latest project is his deceased father-in-law’s estate. Nick says he needs another pair of hands and hires someone much younger, a 25-year-old Aussie visitor, Naomi. She has a visa for a few months. Unknown to Naomi, he checks her out when she is unaware. It is another layer of watching between your fingers.
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Greg (Craig Butta) is one of those cringe friends who think they are way more charming than they are. On a lads night out, all Nick’s friends turn out to be juvenile bellends.
Nick’s patchy earnings understandably put a further strain on the marriage. Financial worries impacting the middle class is rarely touched upon in cinema. A meta comment by Naomi: People never make films about ordinary people. The score’s gentleness aids reality, it is something you might hear at a restaurant.
Wife Alyssa is a psychotherapist (Kate Lyn Sheil cameos in the blink of an eye as a patient). Like this year’s WILD MOUSE, a psychotherapist does not, of course, have all relationship answers. Gwendolyn is judgmental and acidic. Divorced, not fun to be around, she gives off a Dickensian Miss Havisham vibe. Meanwhile, Buddy (Jason Schwartzman) owns a recording studio. He is husband and boss of Jess (Analeigh Tipton), another spouse neglected. Put upon assistant to Gwendolyn, Sam (Lily Rabe) is also the self-absorbed sister of Jess. Buddy’s mother wants him to show Naomi around NY. Tellingly, he does not bring spouse.
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Solipsism is the watchword of virtually all the characters, and arguably misanthropic reflection of all of us. Writer-director Alex Ross Perry does not know what to do with it. His last three films seem to show a cinema-lovers view of the world, rather than having a real understanding. His movies feel like the work of Brian De Palma, whose work arguably suffers from a similar superficiality. With Chloë Sevigny and Analeigh Tipton, GOLDEN EXITS sometimes has the feel of a Whit Stillman flick, but not as acerbic. Nor is it as cutting as a Noah Baumbach movie, which had Adam Horowitz in WHILE WE’RE YOUNG. Men do not come off well, taking their wives for granted. Clichés rear their head unsatisfyingly. Men are horny dogs, and women are complainers.
GOLDEN EXITS wants to talk about First World dissatisfaction, emotional malaise, what is it we really want, but does not dig deep enough. Exiting an unsatisfactory situation is what the characters grab for, and are chastised by the film. Beginnings and endings are the relatively easy part of relationships. Sustaining is the difficult aspect. Here, the story does not offer any solutions, bar a cursory nod to be content with what you’ve got.
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