DADDY LONGLEGS / Go Get Some Rosemary(Benny and Josh Safdie, USA, 2010, 35mm,
98 mins)
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
--Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (1972)
Some people grow up with dads who are, well, dads. It isn't that their fathers don't have other interests or play other roles--husband, son, employee, etc.--it's that "dad" always comes first (at least in the minds of their children). Other people grow up with dads who are characters, with personalities so strong they subsume every other role they play, which doesn't mean they don't try to be good fathers. Just that it's a lot harder.
The character at the center of Daddy Longlegs, the first feature from Benny and Josh Safdie, is that kind of guy (on his own, Josh directed 2008's The Pleasure of Being Robbed.) In fact, that's what bystanders probably say when they see him coming, "Hey! It's that guy." Meet him once, and you'll never forget him. The thing is, you might not want to meet him again. He's like Vincent Gallo's whiny ex-con in Buffalo 66: funny from a distance, but far less so within close proximity.
Wherever he laid his hat was his home.
--Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong (1972)
Some people grow up with dads who are, well, dads. It isn't that their fathers don't have other interests or play other roles--husband, son, employee, etc.--it's that "dad" always comes first (at least in the minds of their children). Other people grow up with dads who are characters, with personalities so strong they subsume every other role they play, which doesn't mean they don't try to be good fathers. Just that it's a lot harder.
The character at the center of Daddy Longlegs, the first feature from Benny and Josh Safdie, is that kind of guy (on his own, Josh directed 2008's The Pleasure of Being Robbed.) In fact, that's what bystanders probably say when they see him coming, "Hey! It's that guy." Meet him once, and you'll never forget him. The thing is, you might not want to meet him again. He's like Vincent Gallo's whiny ex-con in Buffalo 66: funny from a distance, but far less so within close proximity.
Played by Frownland director Ronald Bronstein, he's a jittery, loud-mouthed perpetual motion-machine, filled with a combination of crippling insecurity and unbridled bravado. In other words: a New Yorker. A projectionist by trade, comic collector by proclivity, he's also a divorced dad with two rambunctious boys, nine-year-old Sage and seven-year-old Frey (played by Sonic Youth guitarist Lee Ranaldo's sons...Sage and Frey).
The film covers two weeks during which his ex-wife (Ranaldo's wife Leah Singer) grudgingly hands them over to him. Lenny loves his sons, his sons love him. What could go wrong? As it turns out: everything. But Daddy Longlegs isn't a Judd Apatow comedy where viewers are expected to laugh at his desperate attempts to feed his kids and hang on to his job.
Which isn't to suggest that the film lacks humor--hence the comparison to Buffalo 66, which otherwise follows a very different path--but that sense of unease permeates the entire proceedings, building to a feeling of intense dread before ending in a bizarre flourish of surrealism.
The film covers two weeks during which his ex-wife (Ranaldo's wife Leah Singer) grudgingly hands them over to him. Lenny loves his sons, his sons love him. What could go wrong? As it turns out: everything. But Daddy Longlegs isn't a Judd Apatow comedy where viewers are expected to laugh at his desperate attempts to feed his kids and hang on to his job.
Which isn't to suggest that the film lacks humor--hence the comparison to Buffalo 66, which otherwise follows a very different path--but that sense of unease permeates the entire proceedings, building to a feeling of intense dread before ending in a bizarre flourish of surrealism.
He may sound like a loner, but Lenny has a girlfriend, Leni (Eleonore Hendricks) which isn't such a bad thing (his ex is also remarried to a man played by Ranaldo). She even likes his kids, but that doesn't mean she's ready to settle down. Nor is Lenny. The minute he gets a break from her and them, he picks up a woman and spends the night with her.
Instead of taking off the next day, he invites himself to join Roberta (Dakota Goldhur) on a trip to Upstate New York. Just as he neglects to explain his domestic situation, she's equally neglectful, resulting in a funny, surprising, and rather lovely adventure. But as in all sequences: disaster lurks around every corner (keep an eye out for filmmaker Abel Ferrara as "Robber").
And so it goes until the situation becomes almost unbearable. This is the point at which the tone shifts from the anxious arena of Cassavetes' Husbands to the nightmarish environs of Lynch's Eraserhead, to the extent that I had a dream days later in which the Lynch and Safdie films bled into one and came to life--and I was the freaked-out parental figure (though I should mention that it wasn't my first Eraserhead-inspired dream).
Instead of taking off the next day, he invites himself to join Roberta (Dakota Goldhur) on a trip to Upstate New York. Just as he neglects to explain his domestic situation, she's equally neglectful, resulting in a funny, surprising, and rather lovely adventure. But as in all sequences: disaster lurks around every corner (keep an eye out for filmmaker Abel Ferrara as "Robber").
And so it goes until the situation becomes almost unbearable. This is the point at which the tone shifts from the anxious arena of Cassavetes' Husbands to the nightmarish environs of Lynch's Eraserhead, to the extent that I had a dream days later in which the Lynch and Safdie films bled into one and came to life--and I was the freaked-out parental figure (though I should mention that it wasn't my first Eraserhead-inspired dream).
At the press screening, a local critic--who has two kids--arrived late and left early. He didn't miss much more than the credits, but the film clearly rubbed him the wrong way (and he might not have wanted to be there in the first place). He's just one example, but I can imagine other viewers who won't want to spend 98 minutes with a self-defeating character who never stops talking, never stops moving, and trails disaster in his wake like Pigpen trailing clouds of dust (the Safdies say they looked to their own father for inspiration). And yet, the more I think about it, the more I like it.
That Lenny's dilemma invaded my dreams, even though I don't have any kids, indicates the extent to which it got under my skin, making Daddy Longlegs the opposite of escapist entertainment. But if your father, like mine, was a character first and a dad second, you'll probably relate. And maybe you'll even feel a little less alone.
That Lenny's dilemma invaded my dreams, even though I don't have any kids, indicates the extent to which it got under my skin, making Daddy Longlegs the opposite of escapist entertainment. But if your father, like mine, was a character first and a dad second, you'll probably relate. And maybe you'll even feel a little less alone.
Daddy Longlegs plays the Northwest Film Forum 6/25-7/1. Directors in attendance Fri.-Sun. The NWFF is located at 1515 12th Ave. between Pike and Pine. For more information, please call 206-829-7863 or click here. Images from OutNow!, A Good Movie to Watch, MUBI, and FilmLeaf.
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