The Dish & the Spoon

Alison Bagnall brings her 2nd feature length film, The Dish & The Spoon, with shameless intimacy.

After discovering her husband has cheated on her, Rose (Greta Gerwig) goes on a beer-drinking rampage, pulling the young, mysterious vagabond (Olly Alexander) in on her plan for revenge against the bitch who put her in this position.

The two share an undeniable – often cute and occasionally awkward – on screen chemistry.

Their unique and intimate relationship develops in an interesting balance of sexual tension, bare emotions and twisted manipulation.

Bagnall sincerely seems to be an actor's director, where playfulness and experimentation is balanced with an emotional depth.

The film is sincere and reckless, letting the characters lead the narrative. Rose wants to scream, Rose will scream. Rose wants to cuddle, Rose will cuddle. Rose wants to steal, Rose will steal.

The characters really seem free to act how they want and feel in each moment rather than being pulled across a constructed story forcing them to go from point A to B. The characters do what they want, not what they're told. There is something about this movie that reflects real life and relationships in a way that is true and unhindered.

The Dish & The Spoon feels like a secret roller coaster ride that we get to experience with these two strangers as they grope for some sort of emotional connection and personal understanding over a few unlikely days.

It's a brave film that I'm glad I experienced and hope to see in theaters!

As modern American tiny-budget indie rom-coms go, this is sweet and charming, managing to avoid falling into most of the mumble-core traps and cliche's. There's something more successfully wistful and sad than usual in this tale of two mismatched and very quirky young people stumbling into each other's lives.

When we meet 20 something Rose, she's literally wailing and crying as she drives her car – seemingly without aim – after discovering her husband has been having an affair. Before long she meets a young, sweetly quiet English boy in his late teens, who came to America to meet up with a girl, and has now been cast adrift by her (maybe – there's a lovely question mark over all this character's stories. While there are scenes that are too precious, and moments where it feels like the film-maker and actors are working a bit too hard and self-consciously at being charmingly weird – moments where you can almost see the actors/director think "this will be a cool choice" - there's also a lot of humanity and quiet emotion in the performances by Greta Gerwig and Olly Alexander – creating characters who both seem caught on the edge of real emotional trouble -and in the muted, touching images with which Alison Bagnall frames them.

Yes, maybe we cut to migrating birds one too many times, or we're ahead of the supposed twist of a scene now and then. But it's the moments of fragile human complexity that feel unusual in any American film-making these days, large or small, and which ultimately won this a place in my heart.

I watched this film bc the end credit song popped up on my Spotify and I love it sm :") unfortunately, I can't say the same for the film. It's not BAD, it just doesn't have enough happen to keep it interesting or for the performances themselves to carry the film w.o a stronger plot. Mainly there's just a lot of uncomfortability within it; Greta's character is so believable and unpleasant when she gets angry I genuinely just didn't want to watch, as well as her relationship with the Boy also felt more uncomfortable to watch than sweet, and I kind of just felt bad for him bc she was scary.

Anyways go listen to "The Whale" end credits song by Olly Alexander, u can thank me later ;)

Rose (Greta Gerwig) is outraged over her husband's affair with yoga teacher Emma. She picks up an English boy (Olly Alexander) in distress. He had come to America for a girl which ended in disappointment. The two have an uncomfortable time as they set to confront Emma.

I wonder how young exactly is the boy supposed to be. Olly is twenty and there is no reason why he wouldn't jump all over Gerwig which makes the early hesitation rather silly. All of it depends on his age in the movie and I may have missed that. Since he doesn't even have a name, it's not unrealistic that he has no age. There is a big emotional scene from Gerwig which surprised and shocked me. Then there is the ending which is unearned since the audience knows so little about the husband. We can't forgive him if we don't know him. It's a missed opportunity for the boy which is how I feel about this movie.

I don't know where to start. This is the film that Gus Van Sant always wanted to make when he was alive. Oh wait...he IS alive...sort of. A really excellent soundtrack....Cab Calaway?...really?...lol...the one camera shooting was very annoying..it's really not how we see things and very much really not what we expect in well made films...Olly Alexander is such an amazing talent...hope he stays true to his perceptions of art..this is one truly fun little film...loved seeing the ocean on the east coast rather than the obligatory northern pacific coast...there were some very well conveyed emotions to be seen and experienced...and the feeling of coming in out of the cold was nothing less than brilliant....thanks to the post prod team...excellent editing..