Starting Out in the Evening

Movies about literary people too often sound like books rather than movies. The way characters talk doesn't jive with the way people actually sound in real life. Dialogue sounds scripted, phrases and speeches are too well put together.

This is a trap "Starting Out in the Evening" doesn't avoid, but it's easy to overlook that minor flaw, as the rest of the film is intelligent and thoughtful. The main reason to watch is Frank Langella, playing Leonard Schiller, an aging novelist who the world has forgotten and who is tempted to hope that his name might be revived by an idolatrous grad student who wants to do her thesis on his work. The grad student (Lauren Ambrose) is pushy and rather unlikable, but it makes sense that Leonard would take to her, as only someone as pushy as she could break through his reclusive facade. The relationship these two embark upon is complicated to say the least, and both actors navigate the tricky terrain well.

A subplot involves Leonard's daughter (played by Lili Taylor, who it was a pleasure to see again) and her rekindled relationship with a man of whom Leonard does not approve (Adrian Lester).

"Starting Out in the Evening" is one of those ultra-sombre movies that takes place in the dead of winter, when everything is cold and dead, and in which the predominant color scheme is brown and gray. But the cast brings enough vitality to the film, and the screenplay is unpredictable enough, that the end product is engaging rather than depressing.

Grade: A-

STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING is a quietly moving work of art, a film adapted from Brian Morton's novel by screenwriters Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner and directed by Andrew Wagner that dares to take us to the wall with decisions we make about how we conduct our lives and negotiate the changes that can either be stumbling blocks or stimuli for creative awareness, It has much to say about the creative process of writing, a theme upon which it first appears to be based, but it more importantly urges us to examine how we live - how we make use of this moment of time in which we inhabit a body in the universe.

Leonard Schiller (in an extraordinarily understated performance by Frank Langella) is an aging author, a man whose first two novels seem to set the literary world on fire, but whose next two novels languished on the shelves and slipped into the same plane of obscurity Schiller finds his life since the death of hi wife. He has a daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor in another richly hued performance) who is nearing age forty and is unable to bond permanently with a man because of her obsession with having children before her biological clock ticks past fertility. Into their lives comes Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose), a bright young graduate student who has elected to write her master's thesis on the works of Leonard Schiller. Schiller is absorbed in writing what may be his last novel and can't be bothered with Heather's plea for a series of interviews. But curiosity intervenes and soon heather and Leonard are involved in the process of interviewing, a process which gradually builds into overtones of heather' physical as well as intellectual attraction to Leonard. Meanwhile Ariel observes the process that seems to be infusing life into her father and encourages her to exit her current relationship with Victor (Michael Cumpsty) and re-connect with the true love of her life Casey (Adrian Lester), a man she loves but who refuses to give her the children she so desperately wants. The manner in these characters interact and learn from each other the importance of sharing Life instead of obsessing with selfish goals brings the drama to a rather open-ended close, another factor that makes this story significantly better than most themes of May-December romance and unilateral coping with self centered directions.

The pleasures of this film are many, but among the finest is the quality of acting by Langella, Taylor, Ambrose, and Lester. In many ways the story is a parallax of views of life as art that subtly intertwine like a fine string quartet. Why this film was ignored by the Oscars only suggests that movies for the mind take second place to movies for the merriment of entertainment. For people who enjoy the challenge of a meaty story, this film is a must. Grady Harp

Some writers receive early praise in their careers. Some even more talented ones never get their due because their work is not commercially satisfactory. In fact, it could be said that fame eludes a lot of brilliant authors who, as in the case of Leonard Schiller, must resort to a life of teaching in the great universities of the country. Schiller has only produced four novels, which sadly, seem to be out of print and unappreciated by even serious readers.

It is at this juncture of Leonard's life that a change occurs. When the eager young Heather, who wants to base her thesis on his books, comes to visit to ask if it could be possible to enlist him to help her with her paper. Leonard Schiller feels flattered and repulsed at the same time. He is a private man who has shunned notoriety and wants to stay that way, but ends up in going along with the young woman.

Leonard, a widower, has a daughter, Ariel, a woman in her early forties who believes her biological clock is running out of time if she is to have a baby. She had wanted to have a child with Casey, who doesn't cherish the thought of fatherhood and had broken with her. When he reappears, they renew their relationship with mixed results because Casey can't commit. This disparity is pointed out to Ariel by her father, who feels she is not getting her due.

Heather, we see moving closer and closer to Leonard. It appears inevitable they are headed for an involvement, one that he feels is more than what he wanted to get, especially with a woman way too young for him. The intensity of the feeling she provokes in him, surprises Schiller, who is in ill health, but he gives way to his fears jumping into an affair which will prove will not benefit either one of them.

"Starting Early in the Evening" is a small triumph for the team behind it, notably for director Andrew Wagner who gives the light touch the story requires. The film which is based on a Brian Morton book, which we haven't read, translates beautifully for the screen.

Frank Langella is simply marvelous playing Leonard Schiller. He is worth the price of admission. Obviously, the actor knows well how the character he is playing reacts to all the new sensations he discovers at a late age when the young woman comes into his life. Mr. Langella has never been better and more effective as he is in here. His take on this forgotten scholar is right on target.

Lauren Ambrose, whose work we have admired before, makes quite a case with her Heather. She is an eager young woman who probably has no intention of falling in love with the older man, yet, in her admiration for the author, she leaps into a serious situation that might not mean anything to her, yet, it has given Leonard a new taste in life.

Lily Taylor's Ariel is a complicated character. As the daughter, she is protective, yet, she ends up accepting a woman, much younger than her to be her father's lover. At the same time, her own life is in turmoil because of the motherhood she feels is denied to her. The brilliant Adrian Lester and Jessica Hecht add to the enjoyment of the film.

The film has a foreign film feeling to it. Andrew Wagner shows a sure hand in the final product and one can only wish him to continue along this way because he shows that he has talent and an eye for bringing out those hidden emotions in this interesting film.

A typically strong and thoughtful performance by the great Frank Langella and good supporting actors make this study of a once promising New York Jewish novelist in decline worth watching, but stagnation mars the plot and the film. Leonard Schiller lives alone in a comfortable apartment on the Upper West Side. He's retired from a life of teaching, his earlier novels are all out of print, and he has been struggling for years to complete the latest one. He's regularly visited by his daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor), a woman on the cusp of forty, once passionate about dancing, who has settled into teaching Pilates and yoga. She has wanted to have a baby before her biological clock runs out, but her man wasn't willing and fled to Chicago. Along comes an aggressive young redhead from Brown named Heather (Lauren Ambrose) to interview Leonard for her MA thesis on his work. She stirs things up for a while. But then they settle back to where they were.

Leonard is so shut down you want to shake him. Langella makes a powerful impression—he's what you remember after the movie's over—but you wish he'd let the character breathe a bit more. The film's most memorable scenes are certainly those in which he and Heather timidly touch and the merest shadow of a May-December romance briefly appears, surprising Leonard and us.

The heart of the story, however, is what role Leonard's life has had in his art, and how his dedication to the art may have stunted his life and the lives of those around them. The screenplay (and presumably the book by Brian Morton on which Fred Parnes and Wagner based it) valiantly tries to deal with a novelist in terms of his novels—only the approach is hardly what you could call "literary." Heather turns out to love this writer because strong women characters in his first two books inspired her to break with a clingy boyfriend and go away to college. Schiller's first novels "set her free." His second two novels she can't understand because they changed focus to politics and the strong, independent women dropped out. Wanting to get a handle on that, Heather learns it happened because Schiller's wife died. Prying eventually reveals that neither the wife nor the marriage was as ideal as Schiller represents them. Schiller fights Heather's investigations every step of the way, and sensibly opposes her simplistic biographical approach. He ends by dismissing her thinking and her thesis with remarkable detachment, considering her attentions flattered him. Nonetheless Heather's interest and warmth and eventually what seems to be her love seem to reinvigorate him—for a while, anyway. In the end it all appears to have been too much for him.

Ariel seems a nice contrast to her father, lively and natural; and Taylor is well cast for the role. The Ariel subplot injects life into what might be a numbing portrait. But as time goes on it's clear Ariel is just as stuck as Leonard but without any creative accomplishments behind her. In a moment of crisis she calls an old number and finds that Casey (Adrian Lester), her African American ex-lover, is back in town and ready to resume the relationship. Appropriately for the story's themes, he's a leftist intellectual involved with a journal. It emerges that personally he's as stuck as everybody else. Things still have to be on his terms.

'Evening's' literary details are authentic as far as they go. There are some receptions with schmoozing by Heather, and the identity of a once-respected has-been is well established for Schiller. He presses the literary criticism of Lionel Trilling, Irving Howe, and Edmond Wilson on his young admirer. If she's made a specialty of his work and his period, wouldn't she know about them? Whether intended or not, Heather comes across as strong and vibrant, but direct and confrontational to the point of rudeness and disrespect, and shallow as a scholar. One review of this film has suggested she's more like a tabloid journalist. And she is ambitious enough to try to get her MA summary published as a piece in The Village Voice. She keeps claiming she can get Leonard's books back into print. Surprisingly, after becoming a part of Schiller's life, which she is obviously obsessed with, she drops out of it, just when he's in trouble. Schiller's Jewishness is a routine declaration; the screenplay forgets to give him a life that bears it out. Ultimately the movie is as frustrating as the situations of the principals. It promises more than it performs. Langella isn't perfectly cast. He manages to appear stubborn and defeated, but he looks too robust (and too young) for his character. His acting commands attention always, here in its very understatement it's a marvel. But it's too consistent: you still want to shake him. Ultimately you wonder why a film should revolve around such a character. Despite the best intentions, various things have gone wrong.

At the risk of sounding cliché', this movie is not for everyone. It moves a bit slowly in the beginning, and assumes a few things about its audience. But the overall feel of the movie, and the message that it communicates is very endearing.

Frank Langella is amazing as always, and perfectly captures what it's like to be a writer. His character is a true gentleman. He drinks tea, stands when a lady enters or leaves the room, and speaks honestly but with a polite tact when it's called for. It was really a nice thing to see.

Lili Taylor was hard to get a feel for. I just couldn't connect with her character. Probably because she was turning 40 and trying to have a kid. But her relationship with Adrian Lester was very genuine. They had a great chemistry that really played on the heart-strings.

Lauren Ambrose was a little quirky. The chemistry between her and Frank seemed too forced to me, and not because of the age difference. The only way I can describe it is by invoking the imagery of the unstoppable force meeting the immovable object.

But as I said, overall, the film is beautiful. The characters are richly developed, the music is beautiful, and the story really pulls you in as it unfolds. I wasn't quite sure how to feel about it, initially. But the more I watched, my love for the film gained momentum and really started to grow.

I would recommend this movie for readers, writers, and anyone who enjoys a good drama.