Who the hell is Frank Langella? And how did they know he would be a perfect Leonard Schiller? Well - he's one of those actors who has played countless minor roles, and seems completely familiar because of it. But very few of us could tell you where we've seen him.
Starting Out in The Evening stars Mr. L. as a forgotten novelist who may or may not ever finish his next book. Lauren Ambrose plays Heather, a brilliant yet somewhat clueless literary criticism student, pursuing a teenage obsession with Schiller all the way to a thesis. She's smart and sexy, but is always going to be a little out of sync with the rest of the world. Her awkward persistence finally charms the old man, just in time for her to finish her project and slip out of his life. But that's okay, he knows he doesn't want it anyway when she orders beer when he obviously wanted to share a fine wine with her.
Playing along is Lili Taylor, charming as always, as the novelist's always-present daughter. There's history there and it's mentioned here and there. But mainly Ariel remains a genuinely believable contemporary woman, and we her and her partner Casey (Adrian Lester) continuing to grow up and learn from the father, even at 40.
Nice little movie - a look at people who may very well exist in real life, but who you won't probably ever meet because they're too shy. Pretty suitable for a quiet snowy New Year's Eve.
1 comment:
Frank Langella? Once upon a time he was the new sexy Dracula for the 70's, and he's been around ever since. I've seen him on stage in New York with Alan Bates, but he usually shows up on film as somebody's nemesis, like he's the evil chief of staff who replaces the president with Kevin Kline in "Dave", and he's the evil department head who's pregnant Arnold Schwarzenegger's nemesis in "Junior", and he was Alan Bates' nemesis in that one Russian play I saw them in that I can't remember the name of. He's just got this great "ruthles motherfucker" look that he throws at the audience in his first appearance to let you know he's so evil he's quite possibly... eee-vill.
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