Romancefest 2020: Beach Rats

Written and Directed by Eliza Hittman. Starring Harris Dickinson, Madeline Weinstein and Kate Hodge. USA, 2017

A Brooklyn boy comes of age hanging out with his friends at Coney Island, torn between his desire to meet men online and sleep with them and his feelings he should pursue a more “normal” heterosexual relationship.

This isn’t really a romance in a traditional sense, but I decided to go ahead with it anyway since it is about relationships and sex. This is an understated, subtle movie that is beautifully shot and acted, and, to its credit, explores a subject that often doesn’t get much play in drama – the struggle to understand one’s own sexual orientation.

Romancefest 2020: Gloria Bell

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Written by Alice Johnson Boher and Sebastian Lelio. Story by Sebastian Lelio. Based on the screenplay by Gonzalo Maza and Sebastian Lelio. Directed by Sebastian Lelio. Starring Julianne Moore, John Turturro, Michael Cera and Caren Pistorius. USA/Chile, 2019.

A middle-aged and lonely divorcee enters into a chaotic relationship with a man who at first seems romantic, and later seems too much of a slave of his overly dependent daughters.

An interesting slice of life examining the day to day existence of a character that is often overlooked in cinema, a middle-aged woman. Here we get a three dimensional portrait well played by Julianne Moore (of course) as someone who is both content to enjoy herself (she loves dancing at the dance club) while also harboring a nagging feeling that she wants a little more – a romantic relationship, maybe, or maybe a better connection with her own adult children, who are dealing with their own issues. Turns out, in the end, she was pretty happy in the first place. That whole, “don’t go looking any further from your own backyard” thing. She only needs a relationship with a guy who turns out to be a dick to underline this and reinforce it for her. I hope she hooks up with someone nice in the future, but for now she’ll be all right with herself.

Romancefest 2020: Summer with Monika

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Written by Ingmar Bergman, based on the novel by Per Anders Fogelstrom. Directed by Ingmar Bergman. Starring Harriet Andersson and Lars Ekborg. Sweden, 1953.

A couple of teenage lovers flee the city to spend a summer alone with each other on a beach, only to return later to civilization and the bleak realities of marriage, parenthood and work.

I haven’t seen nearly enough Ingmar Bergman movies. This one’s considered a classic for a reason. It’s beautiful to look at, and unfolds a story that is at first fun and later painful, made more painful by how fun the early fun parts were. You really feel the way the relationship falls apart. I’d complain that maybe too much blame is put on the female half of the relationship, except Harriet Andersson is so clearly the more vital performer that she outshines Lars Ekborg as the more sympathetic male lead, and balances out the latent misogyny a little with her sheer life force.

Romancefest 2020: The Big Wedding

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Written and Directed by Justin Zackham. Based on the screenplay by Jean-Stephane Bron and Karine Sudan. Starring Robert De Niro, Katherine Heigl, Diane Keaton, Amanda Seyfried, Topher Grace, Ben Barnes, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams. USA, 2013.

The adopted son of a wealthy New England family is set to get married, but has to hide the fact that he grew up in a house split by divorce from his birth mother, who is visiting from Colombia. But that’s not the only secret – turns out this wacky family has lots of drama ready to explode with the wedding as a back drop.

Watching this movie I just kept thinking what a waste it was. Look at the stacked cast. You’ve got Robert De Niro, Diane Keaton, Susan Sarandon and Robin Williams all in one movie together, and this is what you give them to do? Play out bland paint-by-numbers sitcom plotlines. Even the younger generation of performers is stacked with talented and usually likable actors like Topher Grace and Amanda Seyfried. But they’re not given anything great to do, either. Sometimes mediocre movies are worse than terrible ones.

Romancefest 2020: Brittany Runs a Marathon

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Written and Directed by Paul Downs Colaizzo. Starring Jillian Bell, Michaela Watkins, Utkarsh Ambudkar, Lil Rel Howery and Micah Stock. USA, 2019.

An overweight and unhappy party girl sees her life change for the better when she challenges herself to run the New York City Marathon.

Here’s a nice one that relies on a specific look at a unique character instead of a high concept gimmick. And it’s unflinchingly realistic, too, creating three dimensional characters with both good and bad traits who actually examine their own lives from several different angles, and grow and change throughout the movie. That’s more than I expected to get, looking at the sunny/funny poster. Jillian Bell’s great as the lead but Utkarsh Ambudkar is a real discovery here as her at first seemingly unlikable and later cute and charming love interest, who squats with her in the house they’re both supposed to be sitting.