In Clea DuVall’s wildly entertaining directorial debut The Intervention, a group of friends decide to stage an intervention during a weekend getaway. Comprised of a stellar cast ranging from indie darlings to comedic masterminds—including Melanie Lynskey, Cobie Smulders, Ben Schwartz and Alia Shawkat, among others—the film finds the right balance of lightweight comedy and emotional drama. The Intervention is a modern take on the heavily inspired The Big Chill, while incorporating similar elements from recent indies like Drinking Buddies and The Overnight.

Performing an intervention is much more difficult than it sounds, something the friends in The Intervention soon realize. While en route to the getaway house, each couple gets introduced in a comical way; after browsing wedding invite designs and noticing her husband (Jason Ritter) is sleeping next to her on the plane, Annie (Lynskey) asks the flight stewardess for some hard liquor; a lesbian couple (Natasha Lyonne and DuVall) must deal with a flirty male rental car hitting on them; and Jack (Schwartz) shows up with his free-spirited 22-year-old girlfriend Lola (Shawkat). The group plans to collectively tell their friend Ruby (Smulders) that they don’t think she’s a good fit for her self-absorbed prick of a husband Peter (Vincent Piazza).

Just as they’re about to give their “marriage intervention,” each couple begins to realize that their own relationships are flawed. And as incidents unfold, you begin to wonder if these people are in any position to pass judgment onto others. With the help from a talented cast, The Intervention is loaded with hilarious situations and dramatic exchanges. Excelling in performances, dialog, and narrative, the film is a must-see indie gem.

Rating:
8/10

Go through the massive list of stars that appear in Joe Swanberg’s Digging for Fire and it might be easy to claim that one of the most prolific names in modern indie has “gone mainstream.” But actually watch Digging for Fire (or Happy Christmas or Drinking Buddies), and it’s clear that the mainstream has actually come knocking on Swanberg’s door. This is the same low-key, character-based storytelling Swanberg has been honing for years, only now with a plethora of talent and established names thrown into the mix. And, if anything, Digging for Fire shows Swanberg as a filmmaker in total control, using his ensemble and skills at creating a casual, inviting tone to make a subtle and fascinating exploration of commitment, aging and marriage.

Taking place in Los Angeles, the film opens with married couple Lee (Rosemarie Dewitt) and Tim (Jake Johnson, who co-wrote with Swanberg) taking their son Jude (Swanberg’s own son, stealing every scene he’s in) to house-sit for one of Lee’s wealthy clients. While Lee goes off working as a yoga instructor, Tim—a public school teacher—stays at home during the summer break. Soon after arriving, Tim starts poking around the house and discovers a bone and an old gun buried in a yard behind the house. Tim wants to keep digging, but Lee doesn’t want him messing up her client’s property, and a host of other small disagreements between the two (including Tim’s refusal to put Jude in a private school) leads to Lee taking Jude to spend the weekend with her parents (Sam Elliott and Judith Light).

Tim takes the opportunity to invite some of his old buddies over (Sam Rockwell, Chris Messina, Mike Birbiglia and Kent Osborne, to name a few), and before long he’s convincing all of them to help dig up whatever else might be hiding underneath the property. At this point the film forks off into two narrative strands, one profiling Tim’s weekend with his friends, and the other following Lee trying to have a girl’s night out with her sister (Melanie Lynskey). Both Lee and Tim wind up finding themselves conflicted when they each encounter an opportunity to cheat; Lee meets a British restaurant owner (Orlando Bloom), and Tim makes nice with the young, carefree Max (Brie Larson).

Anyone familiar with Swanberg’s previous work won’t be surprised to learn the film’s central mystery is a nonstarter. It’s more of an excuse for getting characters together to casually chat about the themes Swanberg and Johnson really want to explore. “When did you feel like you got back to yourself?” Lee asks her mom at one point, wondering if marriage and motherhood have removed her ability to live her own life, and Tim admits to Max that he feels like he’s not maturing, he’s just getting older. Their brief exchanges with friends, family and strangers around them reveal that both Lee and Max have hesitations about staying in for the long haul of their marriage, with the hypothetical idea of something “better” existing out there tempting them into seeking individuality over partnership.

What makes Digging for Fire such an enjoyable yet fleeting experience is how Swanberg lets these ideas flow organically into the film through his terrific cast and tight editing. Narrative doesn’t mean much here, as it’s more about how Lee and Tim’s actions reflect their concerns. Dewitt and Johnson anchor the film nicely, and there isn’t a single weak spot in a cast that’s as sprawling as LA itself. Shooting on 35mm with cinematographer Ben Richardson (who also shot Drinking Buddies and, most famously, Beasts of the Southern Wild), the film’s keen eye for composition helps give it a cinematic feel that comes across as a surprise given its dialogue-heavy approach. Swanberg has made films for over a decade now, and at a pretty quick pace too (remember when he directed six films in 2011?), but in some ways Digging for Fire feels like the start of a newer, more refined era for him. It’s exciting to watch Swanberg in complete domination of his craft, but it’ll be more exciting to see what he does next.

Fresh off the heels of its world début at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, The Orchard has acquired Joe Swanberg’s latest, Digging for Fire, for its North American release.

Digging for Fire looks to continue Swanberg’s recent trend of higher profile films with more notable casts. The film stars Swanberg vets Jake Johnson, Anna Kendrick and Melanie Lynskey, as well as Rosemary DeWitt, Orlando Bloom, Sam Rockwell, Brie Larson and Mike Birbiglia. The film follows the discovery of a bone and a gun which sends a husband and wife—each full of doubts about their future and anxiety about the present—on separate adventures over the course of a weekend.

The Orchard is a music, video and film distribution company, founded in 1997. It previously released 2015 horror film Preservation and the upcoming documentary Point and Shoot, which has found acclaim on the festival circuit.

The release strategy and date is not immediately known.

Writers David Wain and Michael Showalter won over audiences (though not critics) with their 2001 nostalgic summer-camp satire Wet Hot American Summer and attempt to repeat their success with their new rom-com parody They Came Together. The film pokes fun at just about every romantic comedy trope and cliché out there, but committing the same mistakes as the cookie-cutter genre it’s parodying isn’t ironic enough to justify laughs. Many of the punchlines are either beaten to death by repetition or are needlessly explained why they’re funny. And there’s nothing funny about that.

The film begins at a dinner table where Joel (Paul Rudd) and Molly (Amy Poehler) recall how the two of them met to their friends Kyle (Bill Hader) and Karen (Ellie Kemper). Right off the bat the film acknowledges that their story is very much like a corny romantic comedy, as if admitting their own corniness gives the film a free pass. Not long after the lovebirds start describing how they began to date, Kyle blurts out from across the table, “You weren’t kidding, your story really IS like a corny movie!”. Cue the eye rolls.

Both Joel and Molly had broken up with their significant others shortly before running into one other (literally) on their way to the same party. However, it was not love at first sight. The two start off on the wrong foot by getting into a loud argument after blaming the other for the collision. They definitely don’t seem right for each other. After all, Joel works at the Corporate Candy Company which threatens to shut down Molly’s small indie candy shop. Though in the very next scene the two instantly settle their differences in a book store upon discovering their love for the fiction genre. It’s suppose to be ridiculous, that’s the joke.

There are moments where the self-aware comedy works. One of the few laugh out loud moments is when Molly recites a paragraph of specific details while ordering a muffin, only to find out that the entire passage is actually verbatim on the menu. But unfortunately, many of the gags are simply exhausting. Case in point when Joel replies to a bartender, “You can say that again”, who then proceeds to repeat his line over and over until it becomes annoying. A similar instance occurs when someone shouts “swish” after every missed shot on the basketball court. It’s funny maybe once or twice, but definitely not on the fourth or fifth.

They Came Together certainly relies on the undeniable charm of Rudd and Poehler. Maybe a bit too reliant. Both actors do their best with the material, at times elevating the writing better than anyone else could, though even their great comedic chemistry is not enough to save the film. Perhaps that’s why Wain gathers an army of an ensemble including appearances from Ken Marino, Jason Mantzoukas, Ed Helms, Melanie Lynskey, Max Greenfield, Jack McBrayer, Kenan Thompson, and even Judge Judy. These are all welcoming additions but unfortunately all the talent goes to waste with the weak script.

Even a with a short-and-sweet runtime of 83 minutes, They Came Together overstays its welcome with repetitive jokes. The real kicker is many of those jokes weren’t all that great to start with. For example, there is a running joke that New York City plays SUCH an important role in the film that it’s almost a character itself. I suppose this is a dig towards Woody Allen for claiming the city is its own character in his rom-com Manhattan, but I think the joke will mostly fall on deaf ears. They Came Together tries too hard to become a self-aware parody that it forces its humor, generating much less laughs than expected.

No one makes indie improvisational comedies fixated on placid relationship observations better than Joe Swanberg. He spent his career producing loosely outlined scripts that trade complicated plots for light storytelling with naturalistic tendencies. And he has made a lot of them. Happy Christmas marks Swanberg’s 16th full-length feature in just 9 years and is his most personal film to date. Swanberg bases the script off his real life, playing a filmmaker trying to raise a child in a home where both parents are artists, which forces one of them to put their career on hold. Happy Christmas is indirectly dedicated to the one who does the sacrificing as its focus is on the hardships of leaving and re-entering the workforce.

Set around the holiday season (the only tie to Christmas really), Jeff (Joe Swanberg) and his wife Kelly (Melanie Lynskey) are busy raising their ridiculously cute two-year-old son (Swanberg’s actual child) in their Chicago home. The couple invite Jeff’s younger sister Jenny (Anna Kendrick) into their home after a rough break-up leaves her without a place to live. In theory, her stay means extra help in the babysitting department, allowing Kelly to focus more on her job as a writer. But on the very first night of her arrival she parties hard with her friend Carson (Lena Dunham) and is too hungover to assume any kind of babysitting responsibilities.

As one could imagine, this living arrangement causes a rift in the relationship dynamic between Jeff and Kelly. She doesn’t feel like she can trust Jenny, but Jeff believes his sister deserves another chance. However, it’s not long before they switch opinions. Jenny sells Kelly on the idea of writing “sexy mom novels” for quick cash and in return earns back some approval. Though her continuous acts of selfish behavior makes Jeff wonder if he made the right decision to stand up for her.

Happy Christmas is essentially an autobiography for Swanberg. The most obvious clue being that he plays a filmmaker living in Chicago (his home city). But it’s made pretty clear the film is personal with the use of his real-life son and shooting the film in his actual home. In an interview, the director reaffirmed the sentimentally explaining when he and his wife Kris had their child, she had to put her career on the back burner since they couldn’t afford childcare. He even has a small role for Kris as a landlord for an apartment that Jenny walks through.

There’s not a lot that happens in Happy Christmas, yet somehow the film flies by. The brisk 78 minute runtime certainly helps, but the main reason the film is so watchable are the endearing performances. The most adorable of the group is hands-down baby Swanberg, who steals every scene with his incredible cuteness. Anna Kendrick doesn’t typically play the out of control dysfunctional type, but she handles it fairly well here while still projecting her regular impossible-not -to-root for charisma. Lena Dunham seems to thrive on an improvised script, making her a perfect fit for a Swanberg film.

Happy Christmas has more meandering and less polish than his previous effort Drinking Buddies, though it does contain similar charm and a lighthearted spirit. While it lacks any sort of climactic punch at the end, the film largely serves as a tribute to his wife, which hits high marks on the ‘Awww, that’s sweet’ scale.

Happy Christmas trailer

Today, Magnolia Pictures and Paramount Pictures announced that they will collaborate to bring Joe Swanberg’s Happy Christmas to theaters and home video worldwide.

The film, which premieres at Sundance this Sunday, is written and directed by Swanberg and stars Anna Kendrick, Melanie Lynskey, Mark Webber, Lena Dunham, and Swanberg himself.

Magnolia will be handling US theatrical and VOD distribution, while Paramount will handle US DVD and Blu-ray distribution and all international rights. Magnolia also handled Swanberg’s Drinking Buddies last year.

Here’s the synopsis, via Magnolia/Paramount:

Anna Kendrick plays Jenny, an irresponsible 20-something who comes to Chicago to live with her older brother Jeff (Swanberg), a young filmmaker living a happy existence with his novelist wife Kelly (Lynskey) and their two-year-old son. Jenny’s arrival shakes up their quiet domesticity as she and her friend Carson (Dunham) instigate an evolution in Kelly’s life and career. Meanwhile, Jenny strikes up a rocky relationship with the family’s baby sitter-cum-pot dealer (Webber).

“I’m excited to continue my relationship with the innovative people at Magnolia and to start a new relationship with Paramount,” said Swanberg. “HAPPY CHRISTMAS is a personal and important film for me and I can’t imagine better partners to help connect it with audiences around the world.”

“We’re thrilled to be in business with Joe again on this lovely gem of a film,” said Magnolia President Eamonn Bowles. “Joe’s skill with actors is formidable, and this terrific cast gives wonderful performances all around.”

“We are looking forward to bringing this original, fresh film to home viewing audiences in the U.S. and internationally,” said Syrinthia Studer Senior Vice President, Marketing and Acquisitions, Paramount Home Media Distribution. “HAPPY CHRISTMAS has broad appeal, an exceptional cast and an engaging story that we believe will be well received both here and abroad.”

Magnolia is eyeing a theatrical release in the summer of 2014.

Ten years after premiering Love Liza at the Sundance Film Festival, Todd Louiso returns to the festival with his latest film, Hello I Must Be Going. The synopsis of the film fits right in line with what the festival welcomes; a tale of a mid-thirties woman who is at rock bottom trying to find herself in life. Unfortunately the title of the film speaks for itself, because the film offers little redeeming value, it could be can be abandoned at the opening introduction.

Following a divorce that left her without many possessions, Amy (Melanie Lynskey) has been living with her well-off parents in their extravagant Connecticut home for the past three months. There is no doubt that Amy is heartbroken over her failed marriage, she rarely gets out of the house. Amy is in her mid-thirties and has two graduate degrees, but has not had the opportunity to use either of them yet. But her lack of ambition might come from the fact that her parents are willing to support her, giving her plenty of time yet little incentive to find work on her own.

Her parents Ruth (Blythe Danner) and Stan Minsky (John Rubinstein) have their own economic dilemma when shares of their investments are lost due to the financial crash. The problem is that it is hard to empathize for them too greatly because this just means that her father is unable to retire sooner and her mother’s plan to travel the world is delayed. They are far from struggling financially, but having to support their hapless daughter makes the potential client they are trying to get business from all that important.

Amy is pressured to clean up her image for the dinner party they are hosting for the big client as if she was a child. Furthermore, during the dinner her parents do most of the talking for her as they know she is incapable of impressing the guests herself. Meanwhile, across from her is the client’s 19 year-old son Jeremy (Christopher Abbott), who is getting the same treatment. The two instantly begin to flirt and before too long it escalades into a greater affair. This might be the exact thing Amy needs right now in her life, but it comes with the expense of possibly ruining her father’s chance at getting the client.

The biggest offender in Hello I Must Be Going is that the film never gives the audience a compelling reason to care for anything that transpires. The bulk of the film tends to be rich people complaining over spilled milk, while at the same time, they are so self-absorbed that they do not care about anyone else’s well-being. Yet somehow the audience is supposed to.

The other frequent wrongdoer is that the film explains what occurs rather than showing it. A good example of this is when Amy tells Jeremy that he taught her how to be loved. Other than being a genuinely nice guy who was not completely selfish, an admittedly rare feat in this film, there is nothing too out of the ordinary that we see Jeremy do for her. Because Amy is surrounded with people that give her no attention, when someone actually does, she somehow considers it a “lesson”.

That all being said, the root of all these problems likely stem from a poor script. At first it was difficult to discern if the blame should be put on Melanie Lynskey’s performance or simply the character she portrayed. But by the second act it was obvious that the blame could be placed her unbecoming character. Even the solid performance from Christopher Abbott was greatly reduced by the dreadful dialog from the script.

Hello I Must Be Going is a romantic comedy that yields little laughs and the romantic situations that arise feel downright contrived. The film does not deviate from a typical rom-com plotline, but even worse is that the film fails to properly execute its intentions. Rather than showing the lead character finding her path of self-discovery, the film must rely on you taking its word for it. If you were going to watch one indie rom-com from Sundance that centers on a thirtysomething divorcee, I suggest skipping this one in favor for Celeste and Jesse Forever.

Win Win is an indie drama from Thomas McCarthy whose third film proves he knows how to write genuine human behavior. Although there are some similarities between his other films, Win Win should appeal to a wider audience with this simple but sweet film about family.

Mike Flaherty (Paul Giamatti) is a high school wrestling coach for a losing team. He is a lawyer with his own practice but work is slow. He is so stressed out because of the lack of work he sometimes collapses while jogging. Needless to say, things are not looking up for him.

Looking to seize an opportunity at work he becomes a legal guardian for one of his clients named Leo (Burt Young), who has dementia in order to gain some extra income. While looking after Leo’s house, Mike finds Leo’s 16 year old grandson Kyle (Alex Shaffer), who randomly shows up at the home. He has never met his grandfather before but since he no longer gets along with his mother he had no choice but to flee.

Turns out that Kyle’s mother Cindy (Melanie Lynskey) is in drug rehab and never really provided a stable household for Kyle to live in. That might explain why Kyle is a foul mouthed chain-smoker at the age of 16. Although Kyle may seem like a punk on the outside, deep down he is a gentle soul.

Kyle comes to wrestling practice with Mike and asks if he could join. Mike asks him if he has ever wrestled before and Kyle causally says, “Yeah.” It turns out Kyle is fantastic at wrestling and is easily the best one on the team. Mike knows that Kyle is just what the team needs in order to turn their losing season around.

At his first match on the team, Kyle dominates his opponent with ease. His teammates are thankful to have the newcomer bring such success to the team. Kyle also bonds quickly with Mike’s family and soon becomes part of it. Even Mike’s wife, who was a little reluctant with the idea of Kyle at first, now thinks of Kyle as her own son.

With each match the team seems to be getting better and better now that they have Kyle. For the first time in a long time, things are looking up for Mike. Extra income from Leo and Kyle is vastly improving the wresting team’s record. Kyle is very happy to be wrestling again and has even quit smoking. Everything is swell until Kyle’s mother Cindy comes for him.

Cindy claims she came back to take care of Leo but made it obvious she just came back for his money. When she threatens to take Mike to court over it he comes up with a deal, saying he will take care of Leo for free and send her the monthly commission as long as she leaves Kyle alone. But Cindy now wants her son too, even if it is against his will.

Paul Giamatti is fantastic as always, playing the likeable but slightly flawed character of Mike, a family man who seizes opportunities when they arise. Amy Ryan is not on the screen as much as I would have liked, playing the role of a mother not at all like the one in Gone Baby Gone. This time she is a loving mother that thinks the world of her family and does it very convincingly.

Alex Shaffer was very natural playing the role of Kyle but after doing some research it is easy to understand why. At the age 17 Alex Shaffer won the New Jersey State Wrestling Championship in real life. He felt right at home when he shot for the legs and hop around the wrestling mat. There are only a couple of dialog scenes where you could tell he had never acted before.

Thomas McCarthy has used actor Bobby Cannavale in two of his films and in both he plays nearly the same character. The characters he plays are so socially desperate to be a part of someone else’s life because they are bored with their own. In The Station Agent that character was Joe, in Win Win it is Terry. Terry comes to Mike’s wrestling practice because he just wants to see this Kyle kid wrestle and perhaps trying to fill a void in his life from a recent divorce he had. He is excellent in both films providing comedic relief at the same time being the third wheel.

Win Win is the kind of film that will not blow you away, but is still enjoyable. It is well-acted and well told; even though the story is ultimately too safe which results in a warm family film that is worth watching once. However, compared to McCarthy’s The Station Agent this film was a bit of a let down.