Broken English

Broken English is a smart, observant romantic comedy with wit enough to stride through cliché in such a way that we forgive any familiarities of plot and tone. There are more than a few moments of serendipity so great they feel as though they could occur only in the world of cinema, but the movie is so confidently executed with such great performances that it truly doesn't matter. The hook is that it's also probably one of the most astute studies so far of today's thoroughly modern, anxious, and unfulfilled New Yorkers. Parker Posey stars as Nora Wilder, a New York woman with plenty of beautiful clothes, beautiful friends, a bright and almost never ceasing smile, and a a buzzing social life to boot. Her conundrum is simply that she's miserable. She comes from the BlackBerry, Bluetooth generation of urban city denizens, all hustle and bustle but no substance. She's prone to anxiety attacks and has an almost neurotic desperation to find meaning in every facet of what she can't help thinking is an empty life.

Then comes Julien, (Melvil Poupaud) a Frenchman of more than a few stereotypes but with ample spirit and soul. He brings with him his casual, "life is beautiful," commitment free attitude and some added doses of romance to help shake Nora out of her rut. The encounter between the two proves awfully short, though, since Nora is unwilling to shake up her mundane life too much. When he asks her to fly to Paris with him, she turns him down by simply saying "I have obligations." Later regretting her decision to pass up on the one exciting part of her life, she journeys with close friend Audrey, (Drea de Mateo) who is experiencing a rut of her own with a husband of five years, all the way to Paris in search of Julien. The film is thankfully more about Nora's journey from a deadline-obsessed basket case to a calm and independent woman than it is specifically about the somewhat ludicrous only-in-a-movie search in Paris. Her relationship with Julien, which is rendered with a loveliness that could burst any skeptic's bubble, is only one facet of this transition. Posey, in particular, leads us by the hand on the voyage. In the opening moments of the film, she's all nervous tics and costume fidgeting. By it's end, she's achieved a graceful, relaxed screen presence that echoes a maturity earned through great efforts over the course of the film's narrative.

Credit for the film's triumphs is also due greatly to first time director Zoe Cassavetes. She brings to the film not only an ideal role for the often underused Posey, but also a breathtakingly authentic vision of New York and the lives of its self-appointed sophisticates. The entire production is wrapped up in a dreamy, girly grit that displays New York as part Cosmo slurping "Sex and the City" oasis and party gloomy, filthy dump. Her dialogue is authentic, snappy, and funny without feeling overstretched. She's got a great eye for locations and a great sense for using tight spaces, like the one utilized for Nora's apartment, as a way of getting both a dramatic sense of claustrophobic New York dwellings and a really great, boxed in frame. She turns simple shots of Posey in the bath or on the bed into portrait-like images frozen in time. The glamour and the hell of New York City get all wrapped up neatly into one satisfying, liberating narrative package.

It all leads up to a fortunate, fittingly simple final moment that's remarkably beautiful. So much so that I'm willing to completely overlook the fact that it borrows quite heavily from the final moments of Richard Linklater's masterpiece Before Sunset. Zoe Cassavetes has officially cast her hat into the ring in the race to be the next Sofia Coppola, and she's come up ahead of some of her more seasoned peers already. This is an assured and dazzling debut feature from a promising new young female voice of our time.

Grade: A-