The Land of Steady Habits (Nicole Holofcener)

[Stay Puft]

THE LAND OF STEADY HABITS
Dir. Nicole Holofcener



IMDb page

[Stay Puft]

So like I said, watched this back to back with Private Life but found it a lot less successful as an observational drama. Good performances, still (Mendelsohn carries the film well, is totally convincing as this wayward, pitiful asshole), but the insights are a lot more broad, even cliché. It builds to a predictable tragedy, with a predictable confrontation re: said tragedy, and I wasn't really buying a lot of it emotionally. But my real criticism, the biggest stumbling block to my engagement, is the editing; this film is shoddily stitched together in a lot of ways. Lousy pacing in a lot of places but also some bewildering continuity issues, like donuts that disappear in a nanosecond and even Mendelsohn switching poses between shots (in one dialogue scene at a party, his glass of whisky or whatever is teleporting back and forth between his left and right hand). Compared to Private Life, which felt sharp and incisive, Holofcener's film feels sort of slack and clumsy.

[Grouchy]

Yeah, promising start (I had to read the synopsis to make another person choose between it and two other movies, and was pleasantly surprised that the story starts after the divorce) but it demands way too much patience for what it has to offer in terms of insightful drama or anguished comedy. Terrific ensemble, though.