Alexander the Last

Many people seem to say that "not much happens" in Swanberg films and, from this example, I guess they must be correct!

It had a certain charm, but I'm not planning to watch (m)any more of his films to see if this is typical.

OK if you are in the right mood, I guess.

I do not have a lot of experience in this genre of the independent film movement. But, in our search for the next John Cassavetes, we have to ask if Joe Swanberg is one to watch.

Low budget, improvised dialog (just about everyone in the film gets a writing credit), and a look at the lives of twenty-somethings, is part of the genre called "mumblecore" or " bedhead cinema" or "Slackavetes" in an homage to Cassavetes. My only previous experience has been Mark and Jay Duplass' film The Puffy Chair.

The film is about relationships, real and imaginary and how the two blend. Jess Weixler, who I loved in Teeth, is a stage actress in a way off Broadway production. She is married to Eliott (Justin Rice), a travelling musician. She brings Jaime (Barlow Jacobs - Shotgun Stories) home after rehearsal, as he has no where else to go. She tries to hook him up with her sister Hellen (Amy Seimetz - Wristcutters: A Love Story). The problem is that the lovemaking on stage is moving off stage. The imaginary is becoming real. No big surprise there as the stage sex is pretty real.

Of course, Hellen starts becoming jealous and accusatory, so her relationship with Alex (Weixler) deteriorates. The real starts to affect the imaginary as the stage relationship is strained.

The film had it's World Premiere last weekend at the SXSW.

... a bunch of twenty-something-actors improvising a movie... might be fun for them, not so much for viewers watching... had seen this several years back and again just recently... it's boring, at times annoying, and for lots a waste of their time.

Joe Swanberg has previously used the plot device of a woman torn between two competing romantic prospects in his shamefully weak 2007 film 'Hannah Takes The Stairs'. It's a theme that has been used in drama and literature for centuries, but 'Alexander The Last' provides a fresh perspective on the old double-backed beast, and also reveals an exponential growth in the director's film-making sophistication since his earlier project. The film opens with a pair of attractive sisters making vows of life-long loyalty to one another. One of them is Alex, a young married actress who has just been hired for a fringe drama production, while her musician husband prepares to depart on a tour. When the theater rehearsals commence, Alex becomes friendly with Jamie, an actor who is playing the part of her stage lover. Jamie is from out of town, so Alex invites him to sleep on the sofa at her apartment. Later, with ambivalent motives, she decides to hook him up with her sister, just as the two actors begin work on an intimate love-scene for their play. By the time her husband returns from his tour, Alex is completely disoriented, unable to separate her stage character's issues from her own.

Jess Weixler depicts Alex's inner turmoil with her customary sensitivity and skill, as this sympathetic young woman becomes increasingly confused by a heady cocktail of lust, jealousy and guilt. When her repressed conflict does flare up for a brief moment, its effect is shockingly intense due to the film's casually naturalistic style. Just as dramatic artifice had provoked his actress heroine's earlier bewilderment, Swanberg neatly utilizes the same method to resolve matters at the film's conclusion. It's a rewarding experience to see an artist mature before one's eyes - and 'Alexander The Last' leaves one eagerly anticipating Swanberg's next project.

I've watched more than half of Joe Swanberg's filmography for the last year or so and have had positive remarks to make and directorial choices on his part that I've defended for each particular film in some way. Usually, my criticism would be pretty limited and I'd focus on reviewing or praising things from a thematic standpoint, analyzing and diving into the characters' ideology or musings on the world around them.

With Alexander the Last, my glide through Swanberg's films has hit noticeable turbulence - I simply didn't care for this project. At seventy-two minutes, it almost feels twice as long as it chronicles the lives of Alex (Jess Weixler) and her sister Hellen (Amy Seimetz). Alex is a married actress, while her sister is enjoying life single, but both enjoy discussing their sexual freedoms at liberty, a common trait amongst Swanberg films. Alex's husband is a musician named Elliot (Justin Rice), and while he is nice and charming, Alex begins to realize that perhaps she rushed into things at too young of an age and should be directing her sights on a more lax, less formal life. This only begins to be more noticeable to her when she lands a new role in a play and begins to fall in lust with Jamie (Barlow Jacobs) while rehearsing for the project.

It's often difficult to say why I don't care for a film of the mumblecore subgenre in cinema. Swanberg's simplistic directorial style is present and on par with his other films, the acting - if we can call it that - is fine, the dialog is often recited in a natural manner, and the whole thing doesn't feel like a total waste of time, with its length being so short.

Alexander the Last's issue is it doesn't have characters I care about. You very well might, but even as someone who can invest in himself in several films of the mumblecore genre, I did not. Scarcely did the characters her offer any particular opinion or stance on a subject that I found stimulating or something worth discussing. Because of this, Alexander the Last doesn't seem to bear any compelling themes, and with every previous effort Swanberg, there has been an enticing exploration on certain themes.

Here, there seems to be a void, something preventing these characters from talking or saying anything of considerable interest. I have no doubt a film utilizing these actors and their specific characters could be made and made compelling (in my view, of course - I already have a strong fondness for Weixler and several of her works). However, in some ways, Swanberg almost feels like he's contradicting himself by making this film and treading closely to self-parody with Alexander the Last.

Starring: Jess Weixler, Amy Seimetz, and Barlow Jacobs. Directed by: Joe Swanberg.