The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

I saw this movie at the New York Film Festival and it had me cracking up. So completely out of the box, sharp, honest and hilarious. I loved the visual style juxtaposed with the frank sexual content - this felt like the female gaze at work. I've never seen a movie like this and truly enjoyed.

It follows Anne (Joanna Arnow), a Brooklyn woman in an unfulfilling, long term bdsm relationship (which bears a hilarious resemblence to her daytime identity as low level corporate drone) as she navigates her family, friendship and attempts at "vanilla" dating.

Would recommend if you like deadpan humor & appreciate nuanced characters.

From the second the fil starts to the closing credits, you'll laugh so hard you'll have a hard time catching your breath. It's just non-stop action, one-liners, and zingers coming at you. DUCK! Here comes another one! Wow! What an amazing movie-going experience!

Okay, I lied. In reality, I had to qquit this dreadful film after about 30 minutes. It was going absolutely no where. I think a better title for the film would be: "The feeling that something is going to actually happen has passed." Yes, it's that boring. Naturaly Rotten Tomatoes gave it a high rating. Something like an 86. But that was the critic's rating. The viewer rating was in the mid 20s. Trust the viewer's rating on this one. It reminded me of a film by that Greek fella where absolutely nothing happens for hours on end.

If you need something to put you to seep, forget the Melanonin or the Z-Quil. Just put this movie on and you'll be fast asleep in no time flat!

5 minutes in the movie, you get tired of the soulless aesthetic that is presumed to be cool but is just straight ugly and boring, let alone the 'story', which is non-existent. Apparently the director draws comics. She should stick to it as she failed to understand that, unless your name is Ozu, movies are something else than just static shots with heads talking. Sadly, this movie is totally devoid of humor, too, unless the deadpan pimply face of the lead actress, who is also the director, is thought of as 'humor'. Ultimately, the movie's self-complacency often devolves into crass caricature.

No wonder they say the industry is in decline. I read that the producer got a major award for it. Well, as long as they keep congratulating each other for mediocrities such as this, it will keep declining. It wouldn't be a big deal if this kind of self-satisfied millennial production did not bring us Trump.

Greetings again from the darkness. It's billed as a comedy, though for many, the funniest part may be in trying to remember the film's title. Deadpan reaches a new level in this debut feature film from actor-writer-director-producer-editor Joanna Arnow. It's tough to recall any film that more belongs to one person. Indie filmmaker Miranda July's work is the closest I can think of, yet in comparison, her work comes closer to mainstream Spielberg than it does to this one from Ms. Arnow. None of that is meant to be harsh, it's simply a challenge to describe this film to anyone who hasn't seen it ... or even to someone who has.

The film is divided into five chapters, each named for the key "other" characters (not named Ann). Arnow stars as Ann, and the opening scene finds her in bed next to the much older Allen (Scott Cohen). It's here we discover she's age 33 and has been Allen's submissive since age 24. In fact, two of the chapters are named "Allen", and Ann even suggests they were "destined to be together". She makes this proclamation after a couple of attempts to try a modern approach to dating, each creating complications for her. These ventures are presented as vignettes and include a musician, a sleepover with her sister, a role-play costumer, dating app (mis) matches, and a film buff with a love of pickled herring. To cap it off, these interactions provide a certain symmetry with Ann's soulless work at a generic corporation. Imagine being rewarded with a one-year acknowledgement after you've worked there more than three years. You are getting a sense of Ann's personality ... somewhat less than memorable.

Ann is slumpy and frumpy, and her deadpan delivery masks a sharp wit and a spark that rarely comes through to others. As she begins the foundation of a more traditional relationship with Chris (Babak Tafti, "Billions"), her path to self-discovery seems to open up ... although that path may or may not surprise you by this point. Some of the vignettes are shockingly brief, and many feature Ann in an exposed (literally) state of vulnerability. As the vignettes zip by, watching this isn't dissimilar to scrolling through a feed. Joanna Arnow's real life parents (David Arnow, Barbara Weiserbs) play her parents here, and serve up the only raised voices in the film as they sing an animated version of "Solidarity". And no, Ann's relationship with her parents is not much different than the rest of her life. At times, this 'comedy' feels like a beatdown, but leaves us with one key life lesson: pay attention the first time you ask, "What college did you go to?".

Opens April 26, 2024.

This deadpan narrative from Joanna Arnow is a solid deadpan dramatic comedy about a detached character involved with a BDSM relationship and living the life with some interesting direction approaches, deadpan atmospheres, and a solid performance from Joanna herself.

The approach on how life is hard offered by Arnow's direction and approach is a bit strange but it's new level take does offer something special about the setting and concept. Including some dry humor dialogue, structure approaches and character conversations between the performances. Which is also provided by some solid performances from the cast members.

Because some of the writing and pacing is a bit too-slow, it causes the characters to feel distant to connect which at times, made them a bit frustrating to observe, in a not so good way. Nevertheless, I do look forward to see what Arnow could offer next.