Land der Gewohnheit

Eine amerikanische unabhängige "Depression", die ich normalerweise lieber zu später Abendstunde auf ČT2 sehen würde – im Filmclub im Rahmen des amerikanischen unabhängigen Filmsommers – als auf Netflix, wo man derartiges dramatische Missvergnügen überhaupt nicht erwartet. (26.05.2020)

The standard Sundance / Toronto festival movie about the ugly crisis of a middle-aged white man with more than a successful career who seemingly had everything, but threw everything away and is now trying to find himself through a series of depressive escapades that include a lot of alcohol and weed. The movie follows a well-known pattern, which we already saw in countless similar movies that are made on a regular basis. This movie does not bring anything new and even the excellent cast (and the corresponding performances) does not change it much. The motives of the self-destructive middle age crisis are the cornerstone of many key quality TVs, which have so innovatively and consequently exploited this grateful motif in the last decade that films on this topic can hardly say anything ground-breaking today. And this one doesn't even try to do so. However, the Holofcener has one advantage that separates him from the rest of the midcult festival peloton; he manages to evoke a captivating sad mood, which, together with the unusually subdued Mendelsohn (even his trademark “Nicholson" scene of an angry explosion is absent), masterfully keeps it in area of solid above average. (17.09.2018)