Director: Whit Stillman
Does the world of Metropolitan exist? That was the question I kept asking myself - it appears to be made up of young New York socialites home from college on winter break. Yet the world appears indistinct - there's no talk of current movies or music. Instead, the socializing seems to be made up of wild pontificating, witty rejoinders, character assassination, and anxiety about the future.
It's not hard to see people like Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach getting into this extraordinarily talky film. The plot is stunningly low-key, the Chekhov rule is violated, and it's more about the characters than it is what happens to them. Still, lines like 'Oh, I don't actually read literature, I prefer to read literary criticism' make the film well worth it.
I really like this one, but I think Stillman's next film, Barcelona, is better (and the third and final, The Last Days of Disco, is worse). When I saw these the first time, I was watching Chris Eigeman's characters the whole time. Second time I realized how excellent the Taylor Nichols characters are.
ReplyDeleteRick von Slonicker is a great villain, too.
What's the Chekhov rule violation?
"Chekhov's gun is a literary technique whereby an element is introduced early in the story, but its significance does not become clear until later in the narrative."
ReplyDeleteOkay, so it's not an actual violation, but I was thinking of this quote: "One must not put a loaded rifle on the stage if no one is thinking of firing it." As this relates to Metropolitan, I suppose Tom is actually thinking of shooting Rick Von Slonicker at the end, but I didn't really believe it and neither did Rick. So, not really a Chekhov violation.
Definitely a fan of Eigeman, he was very good in Kicking And Screaming as well. Pretty sure Nick is the most compelling character in Metropolitan, and the final scenes are more interesting because he's not there to figure shit out.
Interested to see the other films.