Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)
Take This Waltz (2011)
Genre: Drama
Director: Sarah Polley
Starring: Michelle Williams, Seth Rogan, Luke Kirby, Sarah Silverman
Language: English
Duration: 116 min.
Rating: 6.6
Summary:
Happily married Margot meets Daniel, an artist who lives across the street, and their chemistry is intense and immediate; forcing her in a struggle to deal with this sudden attraction.
Take This Waltz is a film written and directed by Sarah Polley, named after a song by Leonard Cohen. It premiered at the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival.

The story follows Margot (Michelle Williams), 28 and presumably a writer of some sort, but that's a detail only used to support the film's highly contrived opening sequence. Where she's on assignment to Fort Louisbourg, an 18th Century French fortress in Nova Scotia and just happens to run into Daniel (Luke Kirby), who just later happens to wind up in the seat next to her on a connecting flight home to Toronto, where they hit it off and decide to share a cab from the airport, and that's when we find out that he just so happens to live directly across the street from her, oh and that she also happens to be happily married.

Still even with this artificial beginning, there is something uniquely arresting about Polley's romantic vision that is strangely captivating. There's a certain inviting glow to her beautifully photographed dream world, and even if the characters and situations in it mostly ring false, it's grounded by some strong believable dialog and some highly engaging performances from the entire cast.

Take This Waltz (2011)

Once again Williams impresses in her portrayal of a complex character, perfectly expressing her moods and emotions so that even if we can't fully get behind her actions, we always know exactly what she is feeling and thinking. There's a great playful chemistry between her and Seth Rogan, who plays her husband Lou, and yeah he is still basically the same guy he plays in every film, but this time he gives a more subtle and balanced performance, with some unexpected dramatic moments amidst the silliness; and I have to mention that Sarah Silverman is usually an actress I can't stand but she surprises here in a strong supporting role.

Where the married couple is shown to be infinitely cutesy and childish, the stolen moments that Margot and Daniel share are fiery and passionate. Even when there is nothing physical to their relationship, the sexual and emotional tension is intense, highlighted by one scorching scene of dialog shared in a lounge over a round of martinis. But as impressive as Williams and Kirby are to watch as their relationship develops, and as natural as the actual dialog feels, the writing is too far disconnected to reality. To me they look and talk like real people, but they don't live and behave like real people; and the slow pacing compounds on that, making it really difficult to sustain interest all the way through.

Take This Waltz (2011)

Polley takes a long meandering and somewhat repetitive path to get there, but the real point she is trying to make finally comes a half hour from the end. In the shape of a masterfully directed, edited, and acted amusement ride sequence set to Video Killed the Radio Star. A perfect scene, so simple yet, to me showed more truthful storytelling in those three minutes than the entire film up to that point; and I would have been happy if the film ended right there. But that sequence is soon outdone by a powerful montage set to the title song, once again executed with perfect technical and narrative prowess, yet seems so out of place with the style of the preceding film that it makes you wonder if the director's true calling isn't with music videos instead of feature films.

Worth seeing for a couple great acting performances and a couple of refreshing ones, as well as a few scattered moments of directorial brilliance, but it was overlong and needed a more realistic scenario to really hit home.
Bonjour Tristesse
Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

Take This Waltz (2011)

24 comments:

FrontRoomCinema said...

Sounds like a film that I would enjoy, and my wife would love!! Thanks BT

mel said...

Hmmm...I wanted to see this when I first read about it, but now I am not so sure. Maybe when it hits cable...

FilmMasterT said...

Seth Rogen is another one of those popular comedy actors who reiterate performances. Though, he was good in 50/50 Good review.

Christine said...

Good post. I'll probably still see it as I was curious to see what Sarah Polley would do with her second film. You can't go too wrong with what Michele Williams is always able to bring to a film. :)

Michaël Parent said...

I might catch it because Williams is Williams.

The Warning Sign said...

Good review. I just wrote about this as well, and it sounds like I enjoyed it a bit more. I can understand your concerns, but I have to disagree on one point -- that the characters don't live and behave like real people. As someone who has unfortunately been in a similar situation before, I can vouch for the film's authenticity. This movie nailed the feelings, actions and emotions of what it's like to go through something like this.


Still, I enjoyed reading your review. It's always fun to compare with others, especially on films as divisive as this one.

d_4 said...

... I had no intentions of wanting to watch this.. but with knowledge of the use of music I'm more interested than I'd like to be. It really just seems average to me for the most part, but the interest is so high!

Shala said...

Good review. I got an opportunity to see this at Tribeca this year. I actually liked it more than you did but I did appreciate your perspectives.


http://life-between-films.tumblr.com/post/21717718013/tribeca-film-festival-2012-day-1-take-this-waltz

The Angry Lurker said...

I'm not a big fan of Rogen at all.....

Lisa Thatcher said...

Looks like one for DVD for me - but I'd like to catch it. I do like Michelle Williams, though I find the subject matter has been done to death. Those saccharine trailer images irritated me a lot - that "cooky cutesy fun" thing looks horrible. But it does look like there are compelling moments - just as you have said in your great review.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Hopefully a bit more than I did.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Nice to see you around here again Mel. I'd say this one is worth a rental.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Yeah I'm not a fan of that kind of acting but he did well here. Hopefully he keeps getting more roles with a wider dramatic range.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thanks Christine, that's exactly the reason I wanted to see it too despite hearing some not so good things about it beforehand.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

She is a rare talent for sure.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I have no problem with how the film depicted actions and emotions; maybe I should have explained it better, but what I mostly meant by that was those were some pretty nice digs in one of the world's most expensive cities, for characters of their backgrounds (especially a rickshaw driver) to be able to afford.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Might be worth a shot then. There's a good chance you might enjoy the first half more than I did, and I'm certain you'd like the final act.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Thank you for the comment and the visit Shala. It's nice to see you around here, and thanks for sharing your review too :)

Bonjour Tristesse said...

No, neither am I.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

That cutesy stuff really got on my nerves after awhile. The scenes seemed to last forever and there are just so many of them. Maybe that says more about me than the film...

365 moviesandsongs365 said...

Seems as if everyone in the blogosphere is reviewing Take This Waltz ( : Good review again BT. You are right is overlong and there are contrived elements (especially what you said in comments about a rickshaw driver who can afford to live in a house in an expensive area)
Perhaps Sarah Polley's film will grow on me as Blue Valentine did. From what I've read the story is partly based on Polley's own love life, so was a personal project to her, and I think it shows. I find
Take This Waltz nearly impossible to give a rating, I ended on 7/10 for my review.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

Glad you agree with me on those points. If the movie is only half way realistic, alarms start going off in my head. Still there was a lot to like in this film, and yes it does feel like a very personal story.

Andy Buckle said...

I definitely liked this a little more than you. I found both relationships to be really genuine and honest, and Polley had a great ear for dialogue. I think there are some nice genre shake-ups in the final third, but it did drag on a bit. If it got to that point a bit quicker it would have been compelling for the duration. Williams, excellent, keeps it together but I liked all of the performances.

Bonjour Tristesse said...

I'm certain I would have liked it more if it was trimmed down some. That last act really was very well executed and, yeah I think it would have made a world of difference for me if she brought us there quicker. Thanks for stopping by Andy!

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