Go Get Some Rosemary

Only 1 year after Josh Safdie's directorial debut, came the first true collaboration between Josh and his brother Benny, and it sure is noticeable. Daddy Longlegs is a perfect combination of Josh Safdie's raw tone and passion for storytelling with Benny's creativity and comedy. While they could have used the bigger budget and crew to make a more stylised, traditional Hollywood film, the Safdies have instead opted to perfect the formula that was used in The Pleasure of Being Robbed. That film's raw perspective with a hindered believability is now a completely realized and believable world. The film is so convincingly documentary, in-fact, that it becomes almost impossible to even begin to imagine the process of writing it - absolutely everything feels improvised.

All of the acting is great, especially by the kids. The brothers had to go through a very unique directing predicament: dealing with child actors, yet they handle it masterfully. Under the direction of the Safdies, the kid's youth and inexperience somehow makes them all the more believable. It seems like in order to get good performances from all of the actors, almost every piece of dialogue had to be improvised, with only what happens in each scene being decided beforehand.

The result of all of this is a movie that makes the audience feel as though they are spying on a family, that they are watching a document of something private and personal, something not meant to be seen. The intermittent tension from the father's temper and recklessness is greatly aided by the raw, documentary approach. It doesn't feel overly dramatic or cliché, but instead gives off a much more relatable feeling that both parents and children can understand, and very much fits the unromanticized nostalgia of the story. Daddy Longlegs is a character study that feels not as though it were a study of a character, but as though it were an objective documentation of real peoples' lives, leaving it up to the viewer to make a study of what they see.

I'd seen several short films by the Safdie brothers who made this movie as well as the their features The Pleasure of Being Robbed and Good Time. I liked all of them, but I didn't necessarily love them. But I figured that this one would at least be worth watching, and boy was I right! From the very beginning it's wildly intriguing and entertaining, and it just keeps getting better. It feels so very real and very raw.

In a lot of way it feels just like a John Cassavetes film, which is definitely a good thing. And it doesn't feel like someone set out to try to make a film in that style, but more like they just tried to make this raw, realistic portrayal of a very interesting character, and that was how it turned out. Almost like the Cassman did it himself!

And the lead role, played by Ronald Bronstein, was seriously great and fun to watch. That guy should be in more stuff. He was perfect for the part and I'm guessing that it was probably written for him. It was honestly one of the very best performances I have seen in the last ten years. And it never lets up.

Watch this movie if you can. You won't be disappointed. But if you somehow do end up being disappointed, maybe go check out something with Chris Pratt in it instead; that may be more your speed.

It's interesting and a little bittersweet to go back and watch Daddy Longlegs in a post-Safdie Brothers world. They've gone their separate ways as directors apparently, which is a shame, because each feature film they made was a little better than the last. And Daddy Longlegs was the first they directed together (there was another slightly earlier that just one of them did). There was also a documentary somewhere I believe. But the four core features - Daddy Longlegs to Heaven Knows What to Good Time and then Uncut Gems - that was quite the run. Uncut Gems was basically perfect, too, so I don't know if they could've ever topped that. Whether that was a factor in "breaking up or whether it was something else, I don't know.

Anyway, Daddy Longlegs is about a chaotic father looking after his kids and doing a bad job at it. Thats most of it. It's not great, but I'm also not crazy about these super raw, improv-ish character dramas. Even the ones by John Cassavetes don't do a ton for me. I think the main casting choice in Heaven Knows What makes that approach more interesting, and then Good Time and Uncut Gems are kind of on another level. It feels like there's more immediacy and more going on in those films, and it's sad they perfected a kind of cinematic anxiety and then dipped (though their solo films - which I hope will start coming out sooner rather than later - might end up scratching similar itches).

I think Daddy Longlegs is more than worthwhile for anyone considering completing the Safdie Bros filmography, but it's also not really my thing. It's listless and wandering by design, but I watch this kind of film sometimes and I'm like, "So what?"

I asked "so what?" to myself a little less during Daddy Longlegs than some other rambly films, so maybe it was doing something sort of right.

Daddy Longlegs (2009) Directors: The Safdie Brothers 7/10

From the brothers who will later bring us the phenomenal "Good Time", Low budget handhelds create many laughs and what the f*#$& moments, Bronstein's performance impresses by managing to be appallingly appealing, Irresponsible non-father trying his best with his 2 weeks a year 7 & 9 year old sons, Indeterminate ending to a whirlwind ride leaves one feeling the same way.

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Go Get Some Rosemary (also titled as 'Daddy Longlegs') is a truly great film. It pulls no punches and shows the mark of some truly great up and coming filmmakers in their earlier days. It also features a wonderful and memorable performance from Ronald Bronstein, who also co-wrote the film.