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Oh Kay, f-i-n-a-l-l-y found a well written review of Hannah Takes the Stairs, over at Cinematical

Not that Swanberg's new movie needs any more blog attention (it's gotten quite a bit of blog & other press mentions since its premiere at SXSW in March) but, to sort of wrap up a topic I opened with this post/frustrated rant earlier today, I finally found a more or less traditional movie review of Hannah Takes the Stairs that talks about the movie in a way that provides enough & a right mix of information and opinion that helps me decide, as an audience member, whether I want to check out the movie or not. The review is at Cinematical, written by Jette Kernion. Here is a paragraph:

"Hannah (Greta Gerwig) seems to be drifting through life. She has a boyfriend, Mike (Mark Duplass) whom she seems to like, but suddenly breaks up with him because "he's the funny one. I want to be the funny one." She works for a production company of some sort -- I never quite understood what was going on over there -- with a pair of guys, Paul (Andrew Bujalski) and Matt (Kent Osborne). Paul is trying to negotiate a deal to publish a book based on his blog, while Matt is slightly older and more mature than the other two. After breaking up with Mike, Hannah more or less floats over to Paul, upsetting the office dynamic with their schmoopiness and later with their relationship difficulties. She turns to her roommate Rocco (Ry Russell-Young) and to Matt for solace."

The above paragraph is of course from the description of the plot of Hannah. Better stuff; insights and opinions about the movie, and some background information about the production, are at the full review, check it out here.

Hannah sounds interesting (i was not that into Kissing On The Mouth or LOL, but Hannah sounds more interesting than the earlier two by Swanberg), looking forward to checking it out.

Even though Hannah has been blogged about quite a bit and mentioned in articles regarding Mumblecore movies, the Cinematical review mentioned above is the first one that I found, so far, to take a clear look at the movie and write about it in a way that would be useful to an ordinary audience member. When dealing with a dialogue or character driven, "no" budget, small plot or "no plot" movie, some bloggers & other reviewers choose to write about matters related to or inspired by the movie and not about the actual movie itself, probably because it would take a lot of attention & note taking & reflection to clarify the thin plots and scenes that make up the movie. So, good job Kernion & Cinematical, well written & useful review. Thanksalot!

UPDATE:

Another well written review of Hannah, at notcoming.com.

- Sujewa

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