Truth be told,
there isn’t anything miraculous about Starting out in the
Evening in its original state on paper. Sure, the script was
competently adapted by Fred Parnes and director Andrew Wagner
from Brian Morton’s novel of the same name. But as much
emotional insight as Starting out in the Evening provides
the viewer into its very human characters, there isn’t anything
to distinguish the story itself from the average literate,
Manhattan-based family-drama.
Despite the
unremarkable nature of his source, Wagner has found a great film
in a single component of Starting out in the Evening:
Frank Langella’s revelation of a lead performance. When Langella
appears onscreen—he does in nearly every scene in the movie—the
viewer forgets that they are watching a constructed film.
The conventions of the material disappear because Langella makes
the viewer believe that real life itself is naturally
conventional. His character is merely a man living a
continually-aging life, and his story is worth telling for the
simple fact that he is an intriguing human and an
underappreciated artist.
This man is
named Leonard Schiller and, affecting as the novels that he
writes may be, he has been largely forgotten by the Literary
Community. Slowly but surely, Leonard’s work is falling out of
print, leaving the shelves of bookstores as he desperately tries
to finish a final novel in his old age. Then a woman enters the
picture. She is Heather (Lauren Ambrose), a graduate English
student who would like nothing more to write her dissertation on
Leonard, who has come to inspire her through his
little-remembered works. Heather is so enthusiastic about
Leonard’s novels that she believes that she can convince her
publisher-friend to reproduce them as they go out-of-print.
Leonard
hesitantly accepts Heather’s request to submit to weekly
interviews because of her nagging persistence. Still, he fears
that the time that he would’ve spent writing his novel will be
wasted with her. He constantly reminds Heather that he’s getting
old, and that he doesn’t have much time to finish the book. She
rejects this idea, subtly insisting that he is as alive as ever.
Admiration turns into lust, and the two soon become romantically
involved, despite their individual reluctance. The relationship
arises mainly because Leonard sees the need to fight his
embodiment of the image of a “lonely old man.” His wife died
traumatically years ago, and his forty-year-old daughter (Lili
Taylor) has rekindled a dead-end relationship with a man who
does not want to have children (Adrian Lester), much to
Leonard’s disdain.
Langella’s work
is not only nuanced and complex, it is fearless in a way that
one would not expect to find in such benign material. As
Leonard, Langella plays a man who is only a bit older than he is
in real life. Like the character, Langella himself is a thriving
artist whose work is largely unknown to America’s youngest
generations. For the actor to draw from his own experiences to
play, essentially, a figure not unlike himself who is on the
verge of death and questioning his very existence could have
been a wholly frightening task. Instead, Langella turns it into
an opportunity to create an impeccably-conceived character.
Certain scenes in the film’s third act, during which Leonard
really begins to lose his health, show particular boldness on
Langella’s behalf. (One of which involves Leonard’s daughter’s
boyfriend helping him in and out of his bathtub.) In Staring
out in the Evening, Langella has given the best performance
of the year.
Langella is
certainly the highlight of Starting out in the Evening,
but the rest of the cast is also exceptional. Lauren Ambroise
gives one of my favorite performances of 2007 in the film, as
well, perfectly capturing the wide-eyed, university-level
intellectualism of Heather. As Heather comes to hold Leonard on
a pedestal, only to have her hopes crushed by learning the flaws
of his existence, Ambrose internalizes wonderfully. She never
abandons the very repose that makes the character who she is,
but understands that the young woman’s frustrations and
ambitions manifest themselves into dauntingly (and sometimes
inappropriately) reckless actions. Lili Taylor, playing another
prominent female in Leonard’s life, also puts on a terrific
performance. Taylor does a tremendous job of showing how her
character is very much her father’s daughter, dealing with many
of the same issues in confronting middle-age that he does in
coming to terms with old-age.
Starting out
in the Evening may not offer an original story in and of
itself, but it certainly becomes a highly affecting piece of
work due to the many accomplishments of its cast. I’m a big
believer in the theory that sometimes even a single aspect of a
film can make said film a great one, and that’s definitely the
case here. (Still, I should give co-writer/director Wagner some
credit for having the considerable ability to bring the project
together.) In fact, I would love to see Starting out in the
Evening brought to The Stage at some point in time, given
how much of an actors’ piece it is. If Frank Langella is
overlooked for his performance come Oscar Nominations time, I
will find myself severely disappointed in the Academy.
-Danny Baldwin,
Bucket Reviews
Review Published
on: 12.23.2007
Screened on:
12.18.2007 at the Landmark La Jolla Village in La Jolla, CA.
Starting out in the Evening is rated
PG-13 and runs 111 minutes.
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