Breaking Upwards

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A Love Story

Aug 10, 2010

by amoslassen
posted in Movie Hype

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"Breaking Upwards"

A Love Story

Amos Lassen

"Breaking Upwards" is , a New York tragicomic love story that follows two New York hipsters who, after a four year relationship decide that they're no longer happy together but for some reasons can't be separated. They decide to break up by little by little and hope that they will be able to find independence.
Filmmakers Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones co-wrote the script based on their own relationship and star, somewhat as fictionalized versions of themselves, even using their own first names. Wein is also the director. The actors play off one another easily and what begins as funny ends up as bittersweet. Emotion is handled lightly and we have a very intimate little movie. The film is cute and entertaining and there is some excellent acting, especially by the parents, but there are several problems. There is no conflict development and since the movie starts with how the two regard their relationship as tired and quickly moves to how the couple plans to break up. Daryl and Zoe are supposed to be 23 years old yet they seem to be much older especially with what we see about them. We see that both of them still love each other but need and want to move on with their lives.
They talk about codependency and we see Zoe as insecure about her short height but she continues to go to auditions in hopes of landing a job. Daryl moves back in with his folks. The two find themselves farther apart and begin to find new friends and romances. Daryl and Zoe both spend plenty of time with their parents, played by Andrea Martin as Zoe's pot-smoking feminist sculptor mom, Peter Friedman as Daryl's dentist dad, and Julie White as the mother over-involved in her son's life. These characters engage in some tired humor and they are important in the lives of their children. And of course the Jewish angle is added in and the Passover Seder is where everything comes out.
"Breaking Upwards" is at times amusing and at other times sensitive. However when it is over, it is just over and there is really nothing to discuss about it.

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