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Tag: Andrew Garfield

  • Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield charm and fall in love in We Live In Time | TIFF 2024

    Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield charm and fall in love in We Live In Time | TIFF 2024

    TIFF 2024 | Moving back and forth in their history, We Live In Time follows a couple through the ups and downs of life.

    Headlined by charming-than-ever performances by Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield, We Live In Time is a surprisingly entertaining and funny rom-dramedy that is elevated by a smart non-linear structure and kinetic pace. It’ll warm your heart before tearing it into pieces.

    We Live In Time premiered at the 2024 Toronto International FIlm Festival. A24 will release the film on October 11.

    From their fateful meet cute (if you can consider near vehicular manslaughter one) to the birth of their child to a devastating diagnosis, We Live In Time floats back and forth through time to tell the story of Almut (Florence Pugh) and Tobias’s (Andrew Garfield) relationship. It’s a familiar story. Boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy and girl have ups and downs, then something threatens to tear them apart. You can, with some certainty, predict every story beat from start to finish.

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    But two things set We Live in Time apart. The non-linear narrative, moved with swift pace thanks to John Crowley’s deft direction and Bryce Dessner’s twinkling score, tells you the ending before showing the journey. It lets you fall into step with the emotion of the story rather than the specifics of it. Second, the charisma and chemistry of Pugh and Garfield are impossible to resist and give Almut and Tobias so much lived-in life and voracity.

    As the movie unravels their pasts, we deepen our understanding of their decisions leaving us with an empathetic portrait of all stages of a relationship and what happens when you merge individuals with their separate ideologies, traumas and hopes into one. And while that might sound heavy, We Live In Time never feels overwrought. The emotions are real, but treated as simply a part of life rather than a plot point. Something that holds weight but because time marches on needs to fade away.

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    Almut, a chef at the top of her game who at one point says she couldn’t imagine having a child, and Tobias, a corporate drone with a romantic heart and aspirations for family navigate the trickiness with cheer and humor. British playwright Nick Payne, who penned the screenplay, presupposes that life’s big struggles are best defeated with life’s little joys. In one of the best sequences, type A Tobias is tasked with helping Almut deliver their first child in a gas station bathroom. A trauma that is made better by their ability to laugh through life’s pains. It makes watching them go through it all the more enjoyable. 

    Follow the rest of our coverage of the festival here.

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  • ‘Under the Silver Lake’ mini-review — To live and trip in L.A.

    ‘Under the Silver Lake’ mini-review — To live and trip in L.A.

    Under the Silver Lake follows an aimless slacker as he unravels a mystery following the disappearance of his neighbor.

    90-second review: Under the Silver Lake alternates between being incredibly compelling and frustratingly confused. It misses the assuredness of director David Robert Mitchell‘s masterpiece film debut It Follows, because he has to spend so much time navigating the tricky world he created. Sometimes he’s successful — particularly when he explores the series of elite Hollywood parties surrounding indie-pop band “Jesus and the Brides of Dracula” — and sometimes he gets distracted by the weirdness of it all.

    The tone reminds me a lot of Boots Riley’s political satire Sorry to Bother You, but unlike that film Under the Silver Lake lacks the point-of-view and narrative clarity to pull it off. In other words, it’s underdeveloped. Mitchell has so many ideas — both thematic and cinematic — that he wants to explore, which explains the bloated 2 1/2 hour running time. When he focuses in on the central mystery of aimless conspiracy theorist and professional slacker Sam’s (Andrew Garfield) missing neighbor Sarah (Riley Keough), the movie and his vision take shape. But then the potential of the neo-noir fantasy world comes into play and muddies the waters.

    It’s not all bad though. He makes some genuinely interesting choices that prove he was never interested in making another It Follows. And so much of it is bold and funny with a dry wit that keeps it entertaining. A lot of that is thanks to Garfield’s immersive performance that is an almost too-accurate portrayal of a scum bum LA conspiracy theorist. Truthfully, I was never bored with it until it began wrapping up.

    Under the Silver Lake is incredibly frustrating because it feels like you can piece together a good movie from what’s on-screen. Even then, it’s not completely clear what Mitchell is trying to say with it. Is he criticizing Hollywood’s misogynistic culture? Or is he more broadly exploring the LA lifestyle? And then there’s the more straightforward read of a man coping with a difficult time by wrapping himself up in a conspiracy and mystery that isn’t his to solve. Whatever the intention of the movie is, it’s unclear. And that’ll work for some. You’ll either love it or hate it. I’m the rare person in the middle ground.

    Where to watch Under the Silver Lake: Streaming for free on Prime Video.

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    Under the Silver Lake
    Grace Van Patten in UNDER THE SILVER LAKE. Credit: A24.