Leonard Maltin's 151 Best Movies You've Never Seen - Maltin, Leonard [90]
Subtlety isn’t a quality much admired—or sought—in Hollywood, but it’s one of this film’s assets. To find a movie that dodges clichés and creates two striking and memorable characters is cause for celebration.
124. STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING
(2007)
Directed by Andrew Wagner
Screenplay by Andrew Wagner and Fred Parnes
Based on the novel by Brian Morton
Actors:
FRANK LANGELLA
LAUREN AMBROSE
LILI TAYLOR
ADRIAN LESTER
JESSICA HECHT
MICHAEL CUMPSTY
JOEL WEST
The best film I saw in 2007 was my first screening at that year’s Sundance Film Festival in January. For the rest of the year I kept telling people about Starting Out in the Evening, and while some other critics agreed with me, the movie never received its just due. Just one year later its star, Frank Langella, was nominated for an Oscar for his brilliant performance as Richard Nixon in Frost/Nixon…but in my opinion he deserved equal recognition for his work in this picture.
Langella plays Leonard Schiller, a onetime literary lion whose glory days are behind him; he’s been forgotten by everyone except his old colleagues and admirers. A naive but determined and outspoken grad student, played by Lauren Ambrose (of Six Feet Under fame), seeks him out because she’s writing a thesis about him and wants to know more about the elusive novelist. He’s a very private person and doesn’t want her intruding on his life—at first—but gradually begins to thaw. The relationship between master and pupil becomes challenging and complex as the two gradually open up to each other.
Lili Taylor adds to her gallery of great performances as Langella’s daughter, who, at the age of forty, is still trying to figure out what she wants from life, including whether she wants to continue seeing her ex (Adrian Lester).
Starting Out in the Evening is a stoic, classically crafted film, and a beautifully observed character study; these aren’t two-dimensional figures but real people. Langella’s performance, as a man who is a model of self-containment, is incredibly expressive; his every gesture has meaning. The film also makes wonderful use of Manhattan, interiors as well as exteriors, to capture the flavor of their lives. Harlan Bosmajian’s lighting is exceptional.
Director Andrew Wagner studied film at NYU, and was later a directing fellow at AFI. Both of his student films were showered with prizes. He sold a number of screenplays and received acclaim for his first small-scale film as writer-director, The Talent Given Us. For this more ambitious follow-up he adapted Brian Morton’s novel with Fred Parnes. In a just world, Starting Out in the Evening would be much better known, and so would its principal creator.
125. STARTUP.COM
(2001)
Directed by Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim
When a documentarian decides to profile an individual, or bear witness to a project that’s about to unfold, he or she takes an enormous chance, gambling that the time and money invested will yield interesting results. What if the venture collapses or the subject turns out to be a flake?
Chris Hegedus and Jehane Noujaim gambled when they set out to chronicle a promising Internet enterprise. They couldn’t have foreseen that their story would blossom into an incredible saga with personal ramifications worthy of the best fiction. That’s why Startup.com is so riveting: you couldn’t make up a story this good.
The protagonists are Kaleil Isaza Tuzman and Tom Stern, who have been best friends since high school. Now, in their early twenties, they believe they’ve hit on a surefire idea for a company called govWorks.com, which will simplify ordinary citizens’ dealings with municipal governments. Kaleil is the front man, a glib, persuasive fellow who knows how to pitch the idea to potential investors. He also becomes an appealing media figure,