Back in 1994, Melanie Lynskey got her first part, in Peter Jackson’s psychological drama Heavenly Creatures. While her costar went on to Titanic and Oscar nominations, the New Zealnd-born actress settled for smaller parts and television guest spots. But I noticed her in last year’s Win Win, and her wide-ranging performance as newly divorced 35-year-old Amy should vastly upgrade her future roles. As the film begins, she’s moved into her parents’ (Blythe Danner, John Rubinstein) suburban New York house, slept late, and stayed in. Not a good way to meet a man, but when 19-year-old Jeremy (Christopher Abbott) pays a visit with his parents, they begin a furtive affair.
Despite the age difference, it makes sense in a way, since both of them are at a similar stage in life. The movie’s title comes not from the Phil Collins album, but from a Groucho Marx line, so it makes sense that the story is told with humor as well as feeling. I kind of expected the scene where the two lovers are caught in an awkward position, but it was still one of the funnier such scenes. The parent-child dynamic is captured with more intricacy than the romantic one; Mom is the one more prone to push her Amy to do something with herself, but as things turn out, her relationship with each of them changes, and so does she.
IMDb link
viewed 9/17/12 7:30 pm at World Café Live and reviewed 9/20/12
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