Movie Review: Golden Exits
Golden Exits *** ½ / *****
Directed by: Alex Ross Perry
Written by:Alex Ross Perry.
Starring: Emily Browning (Naomi), Adam Horovitz (Nick), Mary-Louise Parker (Gwendolyn), Lily Rabe (Sam), Jason Schwartzman (Buddy), Chloë Sevigny (Alyssa), Analeigh Tipton (Jess), Craig Butta (Greg), Jay Giampietro (Kevin), Jason Grisell (Mike), Jake Perlin (Jake), Keith Poulson (Peter), Kate Lyn Sheil (Patient), Ethan Spigland (Ethan).
All the characters in Alex Ross Perry’s Golden Exits should be happy – or at least happier than they are. But none of them are – they are in fact miserable, for reasons that they try and explain at length to each other in monologues, that I think deliberately (on the part of Perry) miss the real reason for their unhappiness – which is that they are incapable of being happy with what they have, so they are always looking for something else. If they got that, they’d still be miserable, because they’d just move on to wanting something different. This is the talented Perry once again entering Woody Allen territory – but more serious Allen, as there are no jokes here, no laughs, just miserable people being miserable together. The same could be said for Perry’s other films – The Color Wheel about a brother/sister road trip that is insufferable until the shocking ending, that ends up making complete and total sense, Listen Up, Philip – more Philip Roth than Allen (but the line there can be thin) about a miserable asshole novelist, his even more miserable mentor, and his long suffering wife, and Queen of Earth, about two women who are supposed to be best friends, but really hate each other, alone in a cabin together. If Golden Exits doesn’t quite hit the same level of Perry’s previous films (especially the last two) it’s probably because this time he just seems to let everything drift – the film announces early on that it will be one of those films in which nothing happens, and proves itself right. The direction is as sharp as ever by Perry – but I’m not sure the writing is. The film is about a loosely connected people living in Brooklyn. Nick (Adam Horovitz) is an archivist, who has been hired by his sister-in-law Gwen (Mary-Louise Parker) to go through her artist fathers work and get it in order. Nick is married to Gwen’s sister, Alyssa (Chloe Sevigny), a therapist who is nervous about Nick because he has just hired a beautiful young assistant, Naomi (Emily Browning) – and Nick hasn’t always been faithful in the past. Naomi knew Buddy (Jason Schwartzman), when they were kids – he’s older, but only about five years older (Nike is probably a good 20 years older), and they are hanging out again. Buddy is married to Jess (Analeigh Tipton), and the two run a small recording studio together. Jess’ sister is Sam (Lily Rabe), who works as Gwen’s assistant, even though it doesn’t appear like Gwen does anything.
Naomi is kind of the lynchpin that holds everything together – the best scene in the film may well be the first, as she sings a quiet, wistful rendition of New York Groove to herself that is moving and beautiful. She has two married men pursuing her in different ways – she is able to fend off Nick fairly easily, but is drawn to Buddy, perhaps because of their shared childhood. But Buddy is kind of strange, edging towards doing something, but never quite doing it. The two pairs of sisters often seem to get together and hash out their concerns – although one sister does more of the talking than the other.
The film kind of drifts along, and is always pleasant to watch. The performances are all top notch – as they would have to be, given that the dialogue here is very much written dialogue, that would probably seem more at place on stage than on screen – Rabe in particular has some fine monologues. Sadly, the weak link in the cast maybe Browning – and yet I’m not sure it’s really her fault. For as much as the film revolves around Naomi, she remains more or less a blank slate. I’m not sure this is by design or not, but it’s something Browning has been cast to play before (in something like the awful Sleeping Beauty from a few years ago). There is something about Browning’s delicate beauty that seems to attract directors – both male and female – to cast her as these kind of blank canvases that other others can project whatever they want onto. Everyone else in the film is miserable, and will stay that way – almost seem to prefer it that way, since they are incapable of doing anything to change how they feel. With Naomi, I’m not so sure.
There is no doubt that a lot of this is navel gazing on behalf of Perry – but then again, that’s the point. These characters all have good jobs, nice houses. Some of them are married to people they seem to have a lot in common with. But they’re still drifting in their misery. The answer to the question that is asked in last line of the movie is, for these people, yes.
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