The Longest Week hit home video on January 6th from 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
I wasn’t excited to watch The Longest Week. In nearly every way, it seemed repellent to me. The tagline is dumb and meaningless. It has a narrator. Its characters are all rich New Yorkers. Amongst these attributes, all of which screamed “OMG-NEW YORK ROMANCE QUIRK-ADORBS”, it also boasted Jason Bateman’s mostly sad cinematic track record. Against all the odds, I was surprised by a charming and clever film about the concept of character in literature, cinema, and reality.
The least likeable character in a cast of unlikeable characters, Conrad Valmont (Bateman) had been living in his billionaire parents’ luxury hotel ever since his ultra-flighty progenitors went on vacation 3 decades ago. Now in his 40’s, having spent his entire life raised by the hotel staff on an enormous weekly allowance, this playboy of playboys finds himself cutoff when a divorce is suddenly announced. Now broke and homeless, he moves in with his quiet painter friend, Dylan (Billy Crudup), and rather quickly begins a week-long love affair with Dylan’s love interest, Beatrice (Olivia Wilde). Then, as you might have guessed, some bad stuff happens.
To say writer/director Peter Glanz (I could not have imagined a more unfortunate name) has allowed his influences to show would be an understatement. Watching this film, at nearly any moment, will give one the sensation of watching a very early creation of Wes Anderson. In my opinion, we mostly find Anderson’s sense of style in this newcomer’s visual flair. Glanz is one hell of a shooter. He doesn’t necessarily use every shot to express an idea or emotion, but nearly every image is excellently framed, lit, and dressed. Unfortunately, in lacking any meaning, several of his shots are reduced to looking like hipster postcards. Still, I like looking at them, and besides, the real star of the show is the relentlessly coy and droll tone.
To me, watching a movie so consistently wry and on time in its delivery of everything from a joke to a curious glance was a delight. Who cares if the characters’ neurotic, pretentious narcissism is irritating, when you can practically see the movie smirking at you? Every time it takes a moment to not-so-subtly ask a question about what makes for a good character, I expected the screen to lean in, put its head on my shoulder, and ask, grinning, “Isn’t this funny?” I know that sounds horrible, but I honestly can’t think of a way to explain why I had such a good experience watching this ridiculous movie. It’s funny, dammit.
This film, overflowing with the discussion of literature, is appropriately narrated by voice-over from a third person perspective. As I mentioned earlier, I don’t usually care much for that kind of thing. It makes the whole experience feel too cute; almost like a fairy-tale. In The Longest Week, however, it provides a self-reflexive quality which actually elevates the movie. When character motivations are discussed by a voice-of-god narrator, or shall we say, “creator”, we start to think about the characteristics we desire in both fictional and real people. It’s a slightly flawed, but clever little film about human nature and art.
Or… it’s just a really pretentious movie about bougie jerkoids going “blah blah blah literature-one-uppy-wits.”
I am none-the-less looking forward to more movies from a young filmmaker I believe will be a growing talent.
THE PACKAGE
The Making of The Longest Week: This is particularly interesting because Peter Glanz appears to be such a slight little man. He is quiet and awkward (and Wes Anderson) and he doesn’t appear to be a snob at all. What with the film being so universally panned, I can’t help but imagine the poor guy packing himself up in a vintage suitcase, tossing himself on a Vespa and waiting for someone to scoot him away.
