movie backdrop

9 months ago

Showing Up

a review by CinemaSerf

Try as I might,I just don't get Michelle Williams' style of rather moody and laconic delivery. She just always underwhelms me, and here is no different. This time she is "Lizzy" whose cat has an altercation with a pigeon which she chucks out of the door only for it to be rescued by her neighbour/landlord "Jo" (Hong Chau). Now she seems much more concerned about this rat with wings than she does with her lodger's frustrating lack of hot water. Anyway, pretty soon the pair are sharing the task of helping it recover the use of it's wing whilst "Lizzy" gets to grips with a forthcoming exhibition of her sculptures. That's the first ten minutes, thereafter we head down a more familiar dramatic route with a bit of a (quite entertaining) disaster then some family baggage to be dealt with along the way. For me, the undoubted star of this overlong and slightly repetitive story is the bird. It appears much more savvy of the unfolding narrative and appreciative of the path it was going to undoubtedly take than either of the lead actors. It's decently put together this, but the whole thing seems to lack much point or purpose. It suffers from a distinct lack of realism or relevance and though it's never boring, it is pretty humourless and has little memorable enough to merit recommending a cinema viewing.