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As many indie buffs know, writer-director Joe Swanberg is a pioneer of the mumblecore movement — that chatty, improv-heavy, millenial-defining style of low-budget filmmaking, which has permeated the work of the Duplass brothers and Lena Dunham.
As the culture continues to grow beyond this irony-laced brand of free-flowing “realism,” so, too, has Swanberg, who offers his most restrained (and most mainstream) effort yet with “Drinking Buddies.”
Centering around the unique world of a Chicago craft brewery, where comely Kate (Olivia Wilde) works with a crew of guys and acts like she’s one of them, the gently humanistic movie homes in on the wonders and toxicities of experimentation and complacency, and how both can prove dangerous if not addressed with a level head. Thus, it’s only natural that Kate, the booziest of the movie’s lead quartet (which also includes Luke, Kate’s co-worker played by Jake Johnson; Jill, Luke’s girlfriend played by Anna Kendrick; and Chris, Kate’s boyfriend played by Ron Livingston), is the most in need of clarity and balance.
Things get tricky when the two couples head off for a secluded weekend together, and, in between sips of alcohol (a constant occurrence in the movie), begin flirting, not just with each other’s partners, but with ideas about how they want their futures to pan out.
Swanberg has all the makings of a standard-issue infidelity drama here, but the lovingly realistic ways in which he explores the lines between love and friendship, and romance and commitment, put “Drinking Buddies” well above par. Though clearly improv-ing regularly, the film’s actors are never put in a position that has them condescending to the audience, a flaw that’s grown all too common in films of this type. Everything has a natural rhythm, and Kendrick particularly shines in her best performance since “Up in the Air.”
But top kudos definitely go to Wilde, who triumphantly plays against her Maxim cover-babe persona to give a rich and bona-fide turn as the film’s flawed leading lady. Thus, “Drinking Buddies” is a leap forward for both its director and its star.
Drinking Buddies
R
Three reels out of four
Opens tomorrow at the Ritz at the Bourse
Recommended Rental
Stories We Tell
PG-13
Available Tuesday
Shifting from narrative film to documentary, actress-turned-director Sarah Polley offers a poignant and vivid patchwork portrait of her own family, tracing a history that involves her glamorous mother, her adoptive and paternal fathers and her various siblings in talking-head cameos.
Even before aching revelations come to light, Polley proves what a delicate master of storytelling she herself is, miraculously managing to peel back the layers of her own past without a hint of exploitation. A must-see.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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