Private Life

Started by Alethia, October 11, 2018, 12:57:47 PM

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Alethia



Written and Directed by Tamara Jenkins

Starring Kathryn Hahn, Paul Giamatti, Kayli Carter, Molly Shannon, John Carroll Lynch

The new film from Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Tamara Jenkins (The Savages, Slums of Beverly Hills), PRIVATE LIFE is the bracingly funny and moving story of Richard (Academy Award-nominee Paul Giamatti) and Rachel (Kathryn Hahn), a couple in the throes of infertility who try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption. After the emotional and economic upheaval of in vitro fertilization, they're at the end of their middle-aged rope, but when Sadie (breakout newcomer Kayli Carter), a recent college drop out, re-enters their life, things begin to look up.

Didn't have a chance to catch this at NYFF so I checked it out on Netflix last evening. Really, really loved this. Jenkins' films have a lovely and tender way of interweaving moments of broad-but-not-too-broad hilarity with moments steeped in genuine despair, without ever feeling overtly maudlin. Her films are tough, yet hopeful. Her characters all feel very lived-in and sometimes unnervingly relatable, despite registering perhaps at first glance as ostensibly privileged "types". The cast, of course, is reliably excellent, but Molly Shannon in particular really surprises here.

Highly recommended!


pete

this film is perfectly made. watched this with friends after Maniac left us all with a bad taste. It totally worked.
"Tragedy is a close-up; comedy, a long shot."
- Buster Keaton