PUCCINI FOR BEGINNERS
The Joy (and Angst) of Complicated Sex In The Bi-NYC
PopcornReel.com Film Review: "Puccini For Beginners"
By Omar P.L. Moore/February 2, 2007
Double your pleasure, double your fun, triple your angst:
Elizabeth Reaser (as Allegra), with Gretchen Mol (Grace), and with Justin Kirk
(Philip) in Maria Maggenti's comedy of love, sex, and entanglement "Puccini For
Beginners." (Photos courtesy: Strand Releasing)
Maria Maggenti's film, which opens today in New York City
at the Clearview Chelsea Cinemas and the Angelika Film Center, is an enjoyable
farce of comedy, with the neuroses of its main character Allegra (Elizabeth
Reaser) heightened to the nth degree. Ms. Reaser is a delight to watch,
and is the main reason for watching this funny, frantic and predictable comedy
of sexual errors.
Allegra is a writer in New York, a woman whose intimate relationships with other
women have been more fruitful and exciting to her than the very few she has had
with men. As a lesbian she has, like any straight woman, her ups and downs
in relationships and has just ended one with Samantha (Julianne Nicholson).
Allegra gets into a fling with Philip (Justin Kirk) who is in a precarious
situation of his own with Grace (Gretchen Mol). Commitment-phobic to the
end where Grace is concerned, Philip just wants to test the waters with Allegra,
and the idea of her being a lesbian is part of what intrigues him.
New York City is a constant character in "Puccini", and the director never shies
away from the everyday nuances of the Big Apple's inhabitants. At times it
seems that the city's eight million people are eavesdropping on or are aware of
Allegra's travails. Sometimes strangers will come up to Allegra on the
street and tell her that "nothing is a coincidence." Or she will get the
conductor of a New York City Transit subway train making an announcement over
the P.A. speaker about Allegra's confusion in her relationships. (This may
or may not be in Allegra's head.) By this point, Allegra has slipped into
an affair with Grace, who is reaching new-found pleasures and sexual heights
that she never knew existed. But predictably, when all this sexual
excitement dies down, Allegra is left to face the realities that she is as
lonely and isolated as ever, wedged between one hard place and one delicate
disaster.
While "Puccini" displays the cliches and stereotypes of sexual behaviors of
straight men, straight women and lesbians, it doesn't try to judge them, even as
the characters speak extensively about them. Some of the film's more
memorable characters are Nell (played by Tina Benko), a lesbian who had a prior
relationship with Allegra and is now a best friend. Nell's bitterness
towards the male species is foisted upon Philip in a humorous dinner table
scene. Nell forms part of a Greek Chorus duo of sorts with Molly (Jennifer
Dundas) a straight woman who just can't seem to draw men to her. With
Allegra they form a trio that displays and dispels all the right and wrong
advice, but do it in the name of affection and concern for their friend, however
earnest (or wrong) their words of wisdom are.
Part satire, part frolic and detour, Ms. Maggenti has written
and directed a warm, kind-hearted film that never pretends to be a deep,
brooding exploration of intimate relationships in the Big Apple. There are
television series that attempt to venture into that place, but "Puccini" is a
refreshing and more upbeat look at life (and love's) complications.
Emotions don't have to be deep -- they are fleeting. And the emotions of
the characters in "Puccini For Beginners" lead them to take chances on a whim,
floating on the air of a loving Gotham City that happily embraces their choices.
It's good to see a New York City that isn't always so cynical and jaded, that is
warmer than is portrayed in some films, that is oblivious and not so
self-conscious -- just like this film.
Another word about Elizabeth Reaser -- besides her good acting -- it is
difficult to look at her and not see a strong resemblance to Julia Louis Dreyfus
or Kristin Davis ("Sex and The City"). In fact, an episode of the "Sex"
HBO cable television series once had Ms. Davis dress as a man, wearing a suit.
In a penultimate scene Reaser is dressed similarly at a restaurant.
Despite such surface observations(!) Reaser does well, as does most of the rest
of the cast, which includes cameos by Will Bozarth as Jimmy, Philip's roommate,
and Brian Letscher as Jeff, a man on the verge of marriage to Samantha.
"Puccini For Beginners" is a main course that will delight viewers. It is
quiet, quick and easy on the senses -- the perfect film to watch if you want to
avoid the Super Bowl this weekend (or sports on any other weekend.) Or, if
you just want to see a film, this is one you can hardly go wrong with.
"Puccini For Beginners" opens today in New York City and is
released by Strand Releasing. It is not rated by the Motion Picture
Association of America. The film's duration is 82 minutes. The film
is produced by Gary Winick's Indigent company. Winick directed "Tadpole",
another good comedy of sex and complication between older women and younger men
that starred Sigourney Weaver, Bebe Neuwirth and Aaron Stanford. The film
is opening around the U.S. in other cities over the next few months, including
Chicago and San Francisco.
Copyright The Popcorn Reel. 2007. All Rights Reserved.