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★★★★☆
2 January 2018
A movie review of WHO WE ARE NOW. |
“I can’t tell you how much it means that you wanted to stand up for me,” Beth (Julianne Nicholson)
It takes a long time before we find out the particulars of the crime committed by the lead. The delay suggests it must be bad. Out on parole, we gather Beth has spent many years incarcerated, as she is not recognisable to her young son, Alec (Logan Smith). Perhaps the film wants us to know Beth before passing judgment? I’d surmise further: WHO WE ARE NOW does not want us to pass judgment at all. Beth has served her punishment, and she is riddled with contrition. Forgiveness (and self-forgiveness) runs deeply through the movie, without recourse to sentimentality or preaching.
It takes a long time before we find out the particulars of the crime committed by the lead. The delay suggests it must be bad. Out on parole, we gather Beth has spent many years incarcerated, as she is not recognisable to her young son, Alec (Logan Smith). Perhaps the film wants us to know Beth before passing judgment? I’d surmise further: WHO WE ARE NOW does not want us to pass judgment at all. Beth has served her punishment, and she is riddled with contrition. Forgiveness (and self-forgiveness) runs deeply through the movie, without recourse to sentimentality or preaching.
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The audience is dropped straight into social awkwardness. The tone dominates the runtime. Not one note, WHO WE ARE NOW varies the uncomfortable - from hard truths to the unsettling. The film is claustrophobically shot. Continual close quarters camerawork reflects the protagonists stifling lives. Beth arrives unannounced to visit her sister Gabby (Jess Weixler), husband Sam and Alec. The latter has been adopted and Alec views Gabby and Sam as his parents. Cutting her to the quick, Gabby addresses the lead as “Aunty Beth”. Clearly unwelcome, Gabby tells her sister that they had to move out of the previous area. Gabby states that the family now has a good reputation. Status goes to the heart of WHO WE ARE NOW’s discourse.
Working at a nail salon, Beth is on the back foot, and we watch others take advantage. Gabby goes in for the kill and wants sole custody of Alec. (If there is an antagonist, it is Gabby.) One might understand Beth’s current unsuitability on paper. However, spending 95 minutes in her company demonstrates to the heartless: Do not easily dismiss. Like SHERRYBABY (2006), women emerging from prison are far more shocking to society. The world wants the female gender to toe the line. Needing to pay for a lawyer, Beth is so desperate for a job she even degrades herself. A creepy restaurant owner, Vince (Jason Biggs, cast against type), takes advantage.
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Efficiently packing ideas into the runtime, two stories intersect. Carlos (Jimmy Smits) is the head of a community law firm, helping the vulnerable. His star lawyer is Jess (Emma Roberts), who just graduated third in her class at Columbia University. Instead of immediately working at a prestigious, high-flying firm, it is much to Jess’s credit that she is using her time to decide future career choices while at such a practice. Carlos wants her to stay. Jess’s snooty mother (Lea Thompson) is only interested in her daughter bringing in the dollar bills. As you can guess, Jess ends up representing Beth. The movie is thus not overwhelmingly dour. Hope comes in several forms.
WHO WE ARE NOW is in the same league as anguished-filled I'VE LOVED YOU SO LONG (2008). It is both bleak and optimistic.
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