Emotions dancing to a different tune
By Christy Lemire |
July 8, 2012, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
HERE'S how masterfully Sarah Polley manipulates tone in "Take This Waltz," just her second film as writer and director: She takes the Buggles' peppy 1980s anthem "Video Killed the Radio Star," best known as the song that launched MTV, and finds unexpected poignancy in it. She actually uses it a couple of times in the film, in very different ways, and in both instances the mood she establishes is wistful and assured.
Following Polley's 2006 debut "Away From Her," which features the loveliest performance of Julie Christie's career, "Take This Waltz" further establishes the young Canadian as an exciting filmmaker to watch, one with a maturity beyond her years. She takes risks, isn't afraid to explore raw emotions and is willing to let her characters make mistakes that could make them unlikable. At the same time, Polley (who's been an actress herself) never judges these people she's created. Instead, she depicts the giddy, fleeting and illusory nature of new love, and lets us get caught up in it, too.
Michelle Williams gives the kind of subtle, complex performance we've come to expect from her as Margot, a freelance writer living in downtown Toronto with her husband of five years, Lou (Seth Rogen, surprisingly good in a more low-key, dramatic role), a cook who spends his days working on chicken recipes. They tease and play pranks and games of verbal one-upmanship while snuggling in bed in their bohemian home.
At first, these exchanges may seem a bit too cloying, too self-conscious. But as Polley comes back to them consistently, you realize she's crafting a very specific, very intimate portrait of a relationship.
While out of town for an assignment, Margot meets Daniel (the soulful, sexy Luke Kirby), who she discovers just happens to live across the street from her.
Flirtation and tension steadily build. She knows what she's doing is wrong - we know what she's doing is wrong - and yet there's such undeniable excitement each time they meet, you can't wait to see where this amorphous, would-be fling might go next. Eventually, it goes to a bar for martinis at 2pm, where Daniel explicitly lays out what he'd like to do to Margot in a breathtaking monologue. With that scene, Polley has created a genre that might sound like an oxymoron: Canadian erotica.
"Take This Waltz" is a sensory experience, including a tour de force, circular shot around a room which seamlessly depicts the passage of time. But it's always grounded - always about real people making real decisions. Polley asks a lot of her actors, and they deliver.
Following Polley's 2006 debut "Away From Her," which features the loveliest performance of Julie Christie's career, "Take This Waltz" further establishes the young Canadian as an exciting filmmaker to watch, one with a maturity beyond her years. She takes risks, isn't afraid to explore raw emotions and is willing to let her characters make mistakes that could make them unlikable. At the same time, Polley (who's been an actress herself) never judges these people she's created. Instead, she depicts the giddy, fleeting and illusory nature of new love, and lets us get caught up in it, too.
Michelle Williams gives the kind of subtle, complex performance we've come to expect from her as Margot, a freelance writer living in downtown Toronto with her husband of five years, Lou (Seth Rogen, surprisingly good in a more low-key, dramatic role), a cook who spends his days working on chicken recipes. They tease and play pranks and games of verbal one-upmanship while snuggling in bed in their bohemian home.
At first, these exchanges may seem a bit too cloying, too self-conscious. But as Polley comes back to them consistently, you realize she's crafting a very specific, very intimate portrait of a relationship.
While out of town for an assignment, Margot meets Daniel (the soulful, sexy Luke Kirby), who she discovers just happens to live across the street from her.
Flirtation and tension steadily build. She knows what she's doing is wrong - we know what she's doing is wrong - and yet there's such undeniable excitement each time they meet, you can't wait to see where this amorphous, would-be fling might go next. Eventually, it goes to a bar for martinis at 2pm, where Daniel explicitly lays out what he'd like to do to Margot in a breathtaking monologue. With that scene, Polley has created a genre that might sound like an oxymoron: Canadian erotica.
"Take This Waltz" is a sensory experience, including a tour de force, circular shot around a room which seamlessly depicts the passage of time. But it's always grounded - always about real people making real decisions. Polley asks a lot of her actors, and they deliver.
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