Disclosure: I am proud to be a born and raised Torontonian, so it was hard for me not to get wrapped up in the stunning, sun-soaked portrayal of the city in Actor/Writer/Director Sarah Polley's sophomore feature Take This Waltz. The film itself is a love letter to the giant, amorphous city that I live in, but it is also a dizzyingly honest, if at times heavy handed treatise on the insecurities that plague us and the dangerous allure of infatuation; an almost apt metaphor for those who have fallen in love with the city, but are consistently disillusioned by its faults and inability to love them back.
Michelle Williams is breathtaking as Margot, a 28 year old pamphlet writer living in Toronto's characteristically quirky West End with her simple, but adoring husband Lou, played by a surprisingly convincing Seth Rogen. When Margot travels to the Maritime province of Nova Scotia, she meets and instantly develops a sexually tense bond with Daniel, an intelligent, hauntingly handsome artist who just so happens to have moved into a bachelor apartment across the street. Daniel and Margot's relationship quickly intensifies, but lies dormant under the weight of Margor's committment to her love for Lou, his family and their life together, despite the emotional distance growing between the married couple.
This is a poignant, humanistic look at the most desperate, idealistic form of love. The kind of love that is dreamed, never realized, but always sought after. Sarah Silverman plays Lou's sister Geraldine, a recovering alcoholic whose addiction Polley writes in as a thematic parallel to Margot's struggle to maintain control while being pushed towards romantic idealism. Is Margot addicted to delusions of a grand love? Polley toys with the answer, building her characters through sometimes subtle, sometimes metaphorically overbearing, but mostly memorable moments: a kaleidoscopic spin on a chaotic amusement park ride is effective, but hints at pretentiousness. A late night swim shared by Margot and Daniel at a local community center pool (which happens to be *my* local community center pool) is also lensed carefully, with an assured rhythm that permeates a number of key scenes.
Polley strikes a more provocative, interesting tone in the third act that almost absolves the film of its slightly overbearing symbolism. The film is paced somewhat like a Summer love affair. It's hot, full of passion, but has an inevitable tinge of melancholia that comes with its conclusion. There is something of a slight plot twist that I really liked in its powerful simplicity. Characters make decisions that have life-changing consequences, but we know their regrets will always linger. As Seth Rogen's Lou comments near the end of the film, "sometimes things stick." Polley's strengths as a writer and director come from her ability to create indelible cinema out of moments that feel entirely natural. In a recent interview, Polley said making this film was an opportunity to "experiment" after the critical success of her first feature, Away From Her. All filmmakers' experiments should hope to be as delicately crafted, if a little undercooked, as this Take This Waltz.
No comments:
Post a Comment