New Release Review - The Forty-Year-Old Version

Okay, so Pat’s going to take a break, because we both have exams. Thankfully, my job’s aa bit easier, so I’m still going to keep posting in this time period.

This week’s movie was something I wasn’t expecting, but I’m glad I saw. A little indie movie from a debuting director with a completely new perspective doesn’t debut that much on Netflix, and I never get to go to festivals for that, but I managed to see this one on Wednesday night. And it was an interesting experience.

For those who thought I was talking about The Forty-Year-Old Virgin, this Version comes to us from debuting director/writer/star Radha Blank, playing a fictionalized version of herself. A high school drama teacher who once had the opportunity to be a playwright but missed out, Radha decides to start taking her own life back, becoming a rapper and venturing out into the world of music.

As I mentioned in the intro, I’m interested in independent movies from artists who I’ve never heard of and who have something relatively new to say and do. Many of the world’s best filmmakers start with small indie films which are highly original and make an impact – Quentin Tarantino with Reservoir Dogs, Shane Carruth with Primer, Bong Joon-Ho with Barking Dogs Never Bite and so on. And this movie does look to be another one of those great original debuts.

The Forty Year-Old Version is a very simple movie in presentation and style. The cinematography is minimalist and black-and-white, the dialogue is mumblecore in nature and most of the important information is conveyed through acting rather than pure dialogue. Simplicity is something I enjoy a lot in movies, where information is presented to us in a natural form rather than huge slabs of text, as it shows a confident filmmaker who knows their stuff.

In fact, the first few minutes of this movie barely have any dialogue. It sets everything up about Radha’s lack of fulfillment so quickly with such respect for the audience that I honestly would not be surprised to see a more experienced director credited, like Damien Chazelle or Alfonso Cuarón. The movie impresses fast and gets even better.

Most of the movie is hooked on Blank’s singular performance, and she manages to direct herself really well. She’s probably a Best Actress contender on some of the Independent Awards Circuits, and in a long shot, maybe even a Golden Globe. Most of the other cast don’t really have as much depth as Blank, but they manage to act with the spirit and grace of a natural performer, with most of the improv dialogue coming off very naturally. They are also surprisingly funny – I was expecting a much more dour film than what I received.

One of the movie’s more distinct elements is the black-and-white cinematography by Eric Branco. I’m normally mixed on the use of black-and-white, mainly because some filmmakers use it as a tool to make themselves appear arty rather than actually trying to be arty. Thankfully, Branco and Blank avoid that here, creating a visually simple yet very watchable experience that’s massively improved by the use of black-and-white.

The most prominent theme of the film is the handling of Afro-Americans in modern art, including their confinement to degrading stereotypes, and how Radha wants to go against that. The movie handles the theme really well, with the use of mirrors as a motif of Radha’s lack of her own perspective in her work, in addition to awkwardly bizarre and hilarious satirical scenes of a white playwright’s perspective of Harlem. It’s an originally executed viewpoint and probably the highlights of the film are those awkward scenes of rehearsal and performance.

I would say the worst issue with this movie is the pacing. It’s not always consistent, and while it’s not a huge issue, I feel that the editing could have been better in interweaving all of Radha’s separate threads of life, maybe cutting out of the small diversions such as one of her students having a crush on her (that goes absolutely nowhere).

Nevertheless, this is probably the best movie I’ve seen so far this year (which I realise is not a ridiculously positive statement). It’s original, extremely well presented and very well acted, with only a couple of pacing issues keeping it from being excellent.

I’m going to give The Forty-Year-Old Version an A.

Anyway, have you seen this movie? What did you think of it? Leave your answers in the comments below.