Movie Review: Nostalgia

Nostalgia ** / *****

Directed by: Mark Pellington.

Written by: Alex Ross Perry and Mark Pellington.

Starring: Jon Hamm (Will), Catherine Keener (Donna), Ellen Burstyn (Helen), Bruce Dern (Ronnie), Annalise Basso (Tallie), James Le Gros (Patrick), Nick Offerman (Henry), John Ortiz (Daniel),  Amber Tamblyn (Bethany), Mikey Madison (Kathleen), Chris Marquette (Craig), Jennifer Mudge (Caitlin), Lindsey Kraft (Tobey), Joanna Going (Marge), Beth Grant (Anna O'Bryan), Arye Gross (Riley O'Bryan).

 

Nostalgia is one of those movies that gives the viewer a lot to think about, without ever being all that involving or interesting. As the title suggests, the subject of the movie is nostalgia – but a specific kind of nostalgia – not the kind that inspires people to reboot crap from their childhood like Full House or become idiotic internet trolls, hounding the people behind the new Star Wars movies for raping their childhood – but rather, the kind of nostalgia we attach to personal objects. These can be anything – a house, a book, a baseball, letters, etc. – and they don’t have to have any value to anyone else (or value in a completely different way) in order to have value to us. This is pretty universal stuff – and watching the film, you will undoubtedly think of the things in your life that you hold onto – or those times when you’re going through old stuff, from perhaps a dead parent or grandparent, and are overcome with nostalgic memories for those times. The problem with the movie however is that the filmmakers never really find a way to make this universal experience in any way cinematic or interesting. The film is a self-serious slog or good intentions and speechifying in search of a reason for being.

 

The film is one of those that Roger Ebert used to call a “hyperlink” movie – in that you click on one character, and it expands outwards to their friends or family and so on. The film opens in a diner, with saintly insurance adjuster Daniel (John Ortiz) talking to a waitress. From there, Daniel will go see Ronnie (Bruce Dern) – a pensioner in his 80s, who refuses to leave his house, or sell his stuff – he’s been there for years, he raised his kids there, his wife died there, and he still likes it. Daniel then reports back to Ronnie’s granddaughter Bethany (Amber Tamblyn) who isn’t quite the greedy person we first think she may be – she cares for her grandfather, but doesn’t want to be left to sort through this all when he goes. Daniel then goes to see Helen (Ellen Burstyn) whose house has just burnt down – the only thing she was able to save was a baseball signed by Ted Williams, that her late husband cherished for years. Helen’s well intention but clueless son (Nick Offerman) wants what’s best for her – but she doesn’t agree with him of what that is. We then follow Helen to Las Vegas, where she meets sports memorabilia vendor Will (Jon Hamm) to talk about the baseball. From there, we will follow Will back to his hometown as he, along with his sister Donna (Catherine Keener) have to go through their parents’ home, because they downsized to a Florida condo. A family tragedy while there forces the family to see things in a different way – and show how as the generations change, what we hold onto change as well.

 

As you can, that is a great cast – and I didn’t even mention some of my favorite performances in the movie – and the cast is certainly game here. The mood director Mark Pellington wants to strike here is somber and serious – and that is precisely what the cast gives here. But there is a fine line between somber and lifeless, and too often that is what Nostalgia feels like. An oft-repeated line in the film is that these objects are remnants of “lives lived” – which is true, but we don’t get much of a feel for those lives lived. It’s all about the objects, and not about the lives. It doesn’t help that at one point, Jon Hamm is given a monologue that sounds like a poor attempt to do a more sentimental version of one of his pitches of Mad Man, which takes you out of the movie. For everyone in the film, it’s almost as if the director has asked everyone not to smile – as if bringing some joy into the sadness of the film would ruin its effect.

 

The most surprising thing about the film is that the screenplay is by Alex Ross Perry – the gifted young filmmaker behind such harsh films as The Color Wheel, Listen Up Philip and Queen of Earth – films that are not sentimental, and really do get to the core of the people in them – and isn’t afraid to alienate the audience by confronting them with unlikable characters. With Nostalgia, he’s written a film that is little other than sentiment. Yes, the film has got me thinking about things – which can sometimes be the mark of a good film. But I’m not really thinking about the film itself – I wasn’t even thinking about it as I watched it – as all it did was get me caught up in my own nostalgia for the things in my life.