Directed By Matthew Shear

Starring – Amanda Peet, Matthew Shear, Alessandro Nivola

The Plot – An anxious law school dropout named Sam (Shear) stumbles into a job babysitting his psychiatrist’s three granddaughters and falls for the girls’ mother (Peet), an actress in a rocky marriage.

Rated R for adult language, some sexual references and brief drug use

Fantasy Life | Amanda Peet Romantic Comedy | Official Trailer

POSITIVES

Despite an exaggeratedly elaborate title that implements a false sense of expectations on the all-encompassing elements of the story, Matthew Shear’s directorial debut is a quietly grounded introspective and meditative approach to tragicomedy that mines through the anxieties and complexities of mental health struggles, in turn enacting a gently genuine reminder that everyone we cross paths with in our everyday lives, however brief the encounter, has the limitless potential to change our intended destination. This is certainly the case with Shear’s thoughtfully de-stigmatized depiction of fully functioning depression, in which he approaches the sensitivity of the subject with enough grace without sensationalizing struggles for dramatic effect, or conveniently alleviating its nagging persistence, setting this grounded precedent as quickly as the movie’s opening scene, involving Sam having a paralyzing panic attack in a local bookstore. What’s most commendable here is the effortless ability and knowledgeable insight to not only recognize the tangible traits of how the vulnerably humiliating situation plays out, especially as someone plagued by the very same conditions, but also the compassionately tender manner that directly humanizes the experience without the need to define him solely as a victim of his anxiety, appraising a refreshing consistency to subdued sensibilities that truly takes a mature approach towards enacting his 300 pound elephant of a centralized conflict, and one driven most terrifically by the advantageously affectionate dynamic between Sam and Dianne, which conjures an undefined safe space in their detached isolation from the outside world that draws them together as something that truly transcends the romanticism of movie’s needs to bring two polar opposite characters together for the sake of our entertainment value. While Sam and Dianne do occasionally flirt in the magnetism that bonds them, what’s most special about these brief-but-intoxicatingly gripping moments is that the sparsity of dialogue shared between them is nothing extensively detailed, nor is it anything evoking any meaningful emotions, instead prioritizing the small but meaningfully intimate interactions that pulls them out of their respective funks of everyday tedium, in turn meticulously observing two people at a proverbial crossroads in their lives, where the smallest coincidence breeds the single greatest impact to the outlook of their at-times overwhelming lives. Because of such, Shear certainly cements himself as one of the most psychologically thorough up-and-coming directors of the contemporary age, in the ways he shows such restrain to monumental moments that would feel bigger and bolder with directors not as pre-occupied with empathetic sensitivity, but beyond his greatest strengths, his direction also feels cinematic with some stunningly framed shots between Sam and Dianne that make the outside world feel millions of miles away, even in maintaining their connection to it nearly out of reach of what’s captured. Such an example pertains to that of the scene involved in the movie’s poster, where both of the characters watch TV together, with little interacting dialogue between them, in which the couch containing them is at the forefront of the scene’s integrity, while an open door to a dark and quiet hallway is captured to the furthest extent of the right side of the frame, meant to convey how close that detracting elements could creep in at any moment, and while the articulation in these moments might not feel as vital to the movie’s integrity, as Shear’s direction never prioritizes style over substance, it’s still a subliminally layered approach to the visuals that conveys intrusive anxieties with each passing moment, forcing us to soak up as much of the moments of this limited dynamic that give these moment wings, even while tantalizing their unrequited love. Beyond Shear’s stronghold as a commanding hand, the movie is also blessed with sturdy performances to flesh out the humanity of these respective characters, with Shear enacting a bumbling timidness and awkward wit to Sam that makes him instantly lovable, while Peet elicits an eye-opening contemplative turn that feels as authentically raw and emotionally nuanced as unexpected from one of early 2000’s most comedically dominant heroines, proving that she is indeed a dramatic force to be reckoned with, if given the chance to levitate those surrounding her.

NEGATIVES

While much about Shear’s subdued direction certainly injects a refreshing sensitivity in the tender care of orchestrating such a victimized condition, it comes at the cost of flatlined emotionality that keeps audience investment at a grave distance to the film’s benefit, allowing this barely 86-minute runtime to flourish impatience among the movie’s minimized development, especially in the tensely unraveling moments where the inevitability of conflict feels evident in the passive-aggressive expressions of supporting characters weaponizing their jealousy and wealthy privilege. One such example pertains to a stuffy dinner scene centered on David and Dianne’s martial conflict, where the emotional undertow falls completely flat, despite a limitless abundance of effectively mustered stakes that should make this feel world-ending to the characters involved, and while it goes to serve the consistency of Shear’s approach, it leaves the film feeling bitingly bare in the impulsive impacts that it unloads on these character’s journeys, allowing the film to come and go without even the slightest inkling of rocking the boat for dramatic underlining that would make the story feel all the more endearing for it. On top of this, Shear as a screenwriter makes the haphazard decision to frame this story across a year in the life of these characters, with each of the four seasons being utilized in on-screen texts to individually frame the extent of its passage of time, without anything even closely resembling merited meaning for such a strangely bewildering decision. Considering the reasoning feels evident in an 86-minute engagement that doesn’t have the opportunities to flesh out these subplots patiently and naturally along the way, instead surmising these abrupt time jumps forward that not only distractingly require the audience to fill in the gaps for what they may or may not have missed in the strangely incohesive responses from some of the characters, but also a clumsily open-ended structure that immediately steps on the integrity of development during the most spontaneous of transitions out, leaving me wondering why the film even needed the chaptered structure, when the seasonal outlining holds no relevance to what’s transpiring in the foreground of the narrative, where more allowance to the runtime could’ve given us more time with these characters, and less transitions that require show over tell. Finally, while Fantasy Life is irresponsibly classified as a romantic comedy, the truth is that there’s very little of each to satisfy either side of the audience demographic, especially considering Shear sat under the tree of knowledge that was grown directly on Noah Baumbach’s property. As to where the lack of romance can be blamed almost entirely on Sam and Dianne’s coupling as being one of unrequited love between them, the comedy doesn’t fail as a result of a lack of trying, with many of the script’s intended gags lacking the punctuating emphasis or creativity factor to connect of a comedic connectivity to the audience, especially during vulnerably unforgiving moments pertaining to child characters, whose performances themselves feel far too overacted and artificial to experience the scene at eye level. Between this and already so much problem with Shear’s direction inspiring a lack of emotionality to the experience, it left me uninvested to resolutions that were summoned as quickly as the conflicts were introduced, in turn leaving such a lack of distinct personality to Shear’s muted vision.

OVERALL
Fantasy Life is a modestly sensitive and subconsciously stimulating outlook at mental health disorders, as conjured between the unlikeliest of scenarios between two of its victims, who attain an unforeseen traumatic bond that takes their strangely surreal dynamic miles, despite the limitations of the runtime and unnecessary structure cutting them off at every corner. Despite these detractions, the film is kept afloat by Matthew Shear’s humanely grounded approach towards diagnosed depiction, as well as a career-defining performance from Amanda Peet injecting heart and humanity to the air of her contemplative approach, readying a freeing but flawed experience that will affect every member of the audience differently, based entirely on their expectations in the romantic comedy subgenre.

My Grade: 6.1 or C