Director Gillian Robespierre rvteams with Jenny Slate, star of her debut feature Obvious Child, for her follow
up, Landline. Likeable and fun, though less inclined to
stick to the ribs, the story follows two mid-1990s sisters, Dana and Ali (Slate
and Abby Quinn), who discover their father (John Turturro) is cheating on their
mother (Edie Falco).
Slate perfectly captures the post-college “what do I do now”
anxiety and uncertainty, and Landline should, for
Quinn, be a star-making turn—she straight up hijacks the screen from whoever
has the misfortune to share it with her, and given her co-stars, that’s an impressive
feat. Falco is as good as she’s ever been, and this is worth watching for the
authentic, poignant relationship between the mother and daughters alone. It
encapsulates the inherent angst, rebellion, and love in so many mother-daughter
dynamics. Turturro doesn’t have much to do, then again, he’s not the focal
point. Though he delivers enough pathos, depth, and trademark weirdness to keep
his character from being a mere plot device.
Perhaps not as memorable as its predecessor, and
occasionally straying into sitcom territory, Landline
remains charming and grounded, a touch nostalgic (especially for children of
the ‘90s), and entirely relatable across many levels. The characters are funny
and flawed and real, and the film shows them warts-and-all but never vilifies
or passes judgment.
Once again, Robespierre shows her sharp eye for finding
comedy in drama and drama in comedy. If you’re not keeping tabs on her, do
yourself a favor and start. While Landline will probably be
seen by more people than Obvious Child (Amazon grabbed the
rights out of Sundance), and that’s a move in the right direction, it’s not
enough. But we’re fortunate to have Gillian Robespierre making movies, and that
might be. [Grade: B+]
This is an expanded version of our capsule review
from the Seattle International Film Festival.
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