Adam Horovitz, Emily Browning and Jason Schwartzman in a mumblecore about hopes and family life from the director of Listen Up Philip.
Looking for new experiences, 25-year-old Australian Naomi (Emily Browning) comes to New York where she only knows her childhood friend Buddy (Jason Schwartzman), who is now a married man. Soon afterwards she also meets Nick (Adam Horovitz, from The Beastie Boys), who is looking for an assistant for his work on the archives of his deceased father-in-law. Nick is married to psychoanalyst Alyssa (Chloë Sevigny) but has cheated on her on a number of occasions. Alyssa is distrustful about the new assistant as the latter’s arrival animates life in a quiet Brooklyn district where everyone knows each other. This young and single girl with no broken dreams behind her involuntarily becomes catalyst for the internal conflicts between Nick, Buddy, their wives, and sisters.
Author of Listen Up Philip and Queen of Earth, Alex Ross Perry’s new work has already been tagged “Bergman in Brooklyn” by the critics. Golden Exits is an ironic yet sincere story of people with different characters and mindsets. Typically for a mumblecore, the narrative itself is more important than the dramatic development of collisions. Perry repeatedly scans the faces of his numerous characters (also featured in the film are Mary-Louise Parker from RED and Lily Rabe from American Horror Story), minimizing the distance between the viewers and the protagonists.
The picture premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, and has been on show at the Berlin Film Festival along with many other festivals worldwide, from Argentina to South Korea.
Golden Exits
Director Alex Ross Perry. USA, 2017. 94 minutes.
18+