By Dan Mecca
Sporting a familiar story in a familiar city, writer/director Gary King’s indie film New York Lately is a very comfortable affair. Most reminiscent of Edward Burns’ Sidewalks of New York, King’s film does not offer much that is new in the way of multi-character examination within the construct of New York City, but that is more of a compliment than a criticism. King appears to know this construct-it looks as though he’s seen every “NYC film” from Manhattan to Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.
Revolving around several characters dealing with their careers and relationships, New York Lately runs at about 90 minutes and flies by. While the performers occasionally seem to remember they’re on camera, for the most part the acting is solid and surprisingly down to earth. The best moments in this film are character driven, one of the best examples being the scene between jaded writer Elliot (Jeremy Koerner) and private detective Sam (Vanessa Streiff) in which they discuss his fledgling literary career while on a stakeout spying on his possibly-infidelious wife. This kind of pure interaction recalls …Around, another NYC-based indie film currently on the film festival circuit.
Along with Koerner and Streiff, Jared Asato stands out as well, offering a constant vulnerability that both fits with the ensemble and highlights his screen time. While his romantic subplot is criminally underexplored, it develops naturally and will remind viewers recent NYC-romances (think John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale from Serendipity), especially a repeated shot of Jason and love interest Truly (Susan Cagle) walking in the snow.
Romance aside, Asato’s character Jared also embodies the most socially-aware aspect of the film, Young clearly intending to offer some economic criticism through Jared’s occupational dilemmas. He plays a young, disgruntled finance employee who is forced to lay off his fellow co-workers, including his best friend Ringo (John Weisenburger), a character who plays the role of “ladie’s man” while lacking the actual confidence, or amorality, to back up any of his misogynistic opinions. Many of the characters in the film sort this double-sidedness, giving a mostly cliched story some unexpected weight.
The film’s biggest problems seemed to occur during post-production. Scene after scene is full of jittery cuts that occasionally break the overall continuity and narrative flow, most noticeably during a parallel dinner scene that cuts between the men and the women eating. While these edits are most definetely intentional, it distracts far more than enhances the film as a whole. That being said, Gary King has en eye for New York City, some of the best shots of the film taking place on a apartment complex rooftop, the rest of the city lingering hopelessly (or hopefully) in the background.
While this is certainly no Manhattan, these are real characters that come from real places, which is much more than you can say for a lot of what Hollywood puts out these days. Watch for New York Lately around the festival circuit over the next few months.
For more information on the film, check out the film’s website.