Hannah Takes the Stairs

No, "Hannah Takes the Stairs" is NOT a perfect movie, or even a great movie, or even a movie that I feel the desire to ever watch again. But, it still is worthwhile, it still has plenty of entertainment value, humor, heart, sadness, happiness, and so on and so forth. The film takes the typical "mumblecore" approach to things; the cast is made up of quirky, often romantically involved twentysomethings, the budget is extremely low, the dialogue feels improvised, but still clever, the comedy is awkward, the drama is slight, but still impactful. This film in particular embodies all of these characteristics to its own advantage, and felt stunningly realistic. Although the production value is blatantly low, the acting is strong, particularly Greta Gerwig's performance, which is at least somewhat responsible for kickstarting her career, which has obviously developed quite a bit over the past ten years! Her character is flawed, but she is also always likable. She and the rest of those populating the screen feel like real, well developed human beings. These are characters who I feel like I've met before...I've passed by them in life, I may have even befriended them. And now, on an unbiased screen, I can witness their rises, their falls, their good times, and their bad ones.

Looking at the comments on this film on this and other websites it is clear that this is a rather polarising affair – it is difficult to find a balanced review as people seem to love it or hate it. I'm not sure why because for me it is an OK piece of cinema vérité that has some strengths but ultimately doesn't work unless your requirements are for it to be "natural". Some have said that the film is unrealistic but I think this is unfair because to me Hannah does ring true – and if you doubt this then I would suggest you go onto Tumblr (the current "trendy" blog platform) and subscribe to any one of the countless blogs maintained by young professionals working their first jobs in the creative sectors. This comes over like a criticism and perhaps it is because for me the film is fairly bang on the money when it comes to Hannah – although I guess she is as representative of her generation as much as any one person can represent a group of millions (ie they can't).

The film follows her through a period of time and many conversations with her partners, colleagues and friends and nails her in how rather self-centred and selfish she is when it comes to her relationships. Some of this is clunkingly obvious to the point of being a bit irritating but mostly it feels natural. It seems this is mostly down to Gerwig, who is utterly convincing in who she is, a feat that is more impressive due to the lack of script (although I suppose she may be this person but I shall assume she is not). The problem is that, given how rather annoying Hannah is, the film seems happy to let the viewer wallow in her life without a lot of interest going on once her character has been established as much as it will be (which is early on). Without much happening we are left with only the characters to hold the viewer in the film – in particular Hannah. The problem is that this is not something that appeals and, even if it does, the lack of any sort of destination (thematically, emotionally, narratively – you name it) means that you get little back from the film.

Ultimately, for all its naturalism and the appeal this offers me, the film goes nowhere and just leaves me with people that I have no reason to have patience with and, although I gave the film the time it wanted, I find myself taking nothing away from it other than a sense of time wasted. As an experiment it is interesting and Gerwig is a big part of the film working at all but it amounts to very little and has the further downside of suggesting that this is somehow the standard for independent little dramas now. Ignore the hyped praise and ignore the scathing criticism – the truth is somewhere in the middle albeit it more towards the critical end of the spectrum.

Let's be honest. Your movie could have Tom Cruise, Greta Garbo, Robert DeNiro and many other "stars" in it. It could be a collaborative piece co-directed by Martin Scorsese, Howard Hawks, Jean-Luc Godard. Sven Nykist could be doing the camera work. You could bill it as Robert DeNiro having real on screen sex with Greta Garbo and on and on and on. However, if it doesn't have a script or has just a minimal outline, then it will never be what it could be. Shows like Reno 911 are the exception to the rule. They are both no means the norm.

"Hannah Takes The Stairs" suffers from having no script. It is its glaring weakness and what, in the end, makes it wholly unsatisfying. As a whole, the story wanders around way too much and does not give its viewer a reason to really care for any of its characters. It is the kind of film you watch once and then forget about totally. If you were to ask me, should I see "Hannah Takes The Stairs", I would say, "Definitely. Watch it once but you won't ever want to watch it again."

Hannah is so self-absorbed, she doesn't even realize she is. She laments that the world is full of self-absorbed people and that everyday gestures of friendliness are rooted in fear of the dark side of others. And yet she seems to give nothing worthwhile of herself and seems oblivious to the needs of others or the ramifications of her actions. She is drifting aimlessly, momentarily amused by the affections of men with whom she rapidly bores. Nonetheless, she is fascinating to watch. Excellent acting with brilliant unspoken subtext, which is critical, since Hannah is largely inarticulate. If you know any lost 20-somethings, you will recognize them in this. Many scenes go on too long, the dialog is bland and mundane. The men are cute and like to cuddle. The women confused and uninspiring.

Hannah's a youthful but ridiculously bright Chicagoan and recent college graduate interning at a production company, but she's not entirely satisfied in her relationship with her current boyfriend. She feels comfortable in the workplace and is crushing on a few of the men there, so will this give her a chance to find a new suitor? Better question for the viewer: should you care either way? Low-budget indie kitsch that's meant to feel raw and real, but instead is just a collection of dull, fatuous characters sitting around gabbing about nothing particularly invigorating, showing off their middling instrumental skills, breaking into random dance moves, getting physical when the urge hits, so on and so forth, but none of it really carries much weight and the occasional shots of Chicago scenery thrown in do absolutely nothing to redeem it. So-called naturalistic filmmaking, just not at its finest reportedly allowed the movie to be shot without a script, and it clearly shows as it's without an incisive narrative to keep the viewer engaged. **