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| Left to right: Elisabeth Moss and Jason Schwartzman |
The concept of the frustrated write is a subject that has long been a fascination of movie makers. With examples such as Adaptation. and American Splendor, the genre has its share of creative curmudgeons. However, the issue with these films is that they rarely feel like they are done right. The enthusiasm is there, but the remaining zeal and pointless attention to detail is missing. Writers are a frustrating class of people that have romanticized themselves into being renegade artists. While it is all about creating your own myth, writers are their own worst critics and don't recognize their brilliance in favor of what could have been. This is the thing that most films get wrong. Then there's director Alex Ross Perry's Listen Up Philip, which doesn't so much get it right, but exploits every last detail in a funny, heartbreaking tale of a writer creating his second novel while stuck in the dreaded writer's block. It is more phenomenal than it has any right to be.
There is a moment that replays throughout the film. It is a simple joke that may seem annoying to most, but is apparent to the frustrated writer nature of Perry. At various points, Philip Roth (Jason Schwartzman) gets hung up in the wording. It isn't even the facts behind it. When teaching a college class, he reprimands a student by stating that he isn't a teacher but an instructor. To a writer, the wording carries a lot of difference. To everyone else, it is a really meaningless moment. Likewise, these moments keep popping up. With help from The Narrator (Eric Bogosian), the story unfolds like a book in which Philip confronts his hero Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce) and begins down the rabbit hole of self involved importance. Almost nobody else likes him by the end. His girlfriend Ashley Kane (Elisabeth Moss) loves when he is away. Still, there's the deluded sense that Philip is right. At least, that's how The Narrator sets it up with the tale turning tragic in the third act.
The entire film feels dated. This isn't to say that it references things poorly. It is more that the cameras have a grainy, nostalgic touch with the earthy colors almost playing like old home movies, but with better production qualities. It's as if Philip is living in the past, trying to capture the magic of his first novel the entire time while hitting dire straits. Everything he loved is slipping away because he wants to outdo himself, but can't. The melancholy narration adds a touch of delusional sympathy to everything. Most of all, it feels like the writer's way of solving problems.
Thankfully, Schwartzman has long mastered the art of frustrated writer thanks to Bored to Death. While there isn't much difference between Philip Roth and Jonathan Ames beyond ego, this film manages to excel at the familiar. It opens up with Philip annoyed that he has to promote his book. He doesn't want to in a hope that it will actually lead to something greater. He will be edgy. He yells at people and even hangs out with book groupies. The acidic wit works in the hands of Schwartzman because no matter how pompous he becomes, there's a sincerity there that makes it feel real. Also, the small tics are embarrassingly realistic. If anything, Philip is an iconic portrait of high minded writers who want more without showing respect. It all comes back to the word choice. Is he a teacher or an instructor? They're almost the same thing.
Along with great performances by Moss and Krysten Ritter as Zimmerman's daughter Melanie, this portrait of being a creative arts major is as sad and as true as things get. You can win prizes all that you want, but at some point the creativity will disappear and the muses will run away. It's all about finding what's important in the long run and not just in the moment. Respect the good things in life. Schwartzman masters the successful snob who doesn't have any income. Moss perfects the frustrated girlfriend, who is almost a mirrored role by Ritter.
Most of all, it is funny if you're a writer. It is hard to see anyone beyond the creative arts types really understanding or enjoying the film. For those that do, it is very relative to the tropes of everyday life. There's the desire to succeed and the reality that you self-edit everyday conversations. Who knows how things would turn out if you paid more attention to those around you. Would you be happier as an artist or as a person? The word choice is what matters, and Listen Up Philip succeeds at making you question those nuances in life that separate us. Most of them are in your head and are your fault.
Listen Up Philip is a masterful film that is full of technical flair and features a ridiculously great performance by Schwartzman. For many, Philip will be a tragic depiction of reality. For others, they will just see the frustrated writer and not get how amazingly intricate and perfect Philip is. This is a character that is hard to pull off, but Perry does it. While it does run a little long towards the end, it has packed so much implicit detail into the characters that it doesn't matter. There's too much invested and by the time everything ends, you understand where Philip ended up, but secretly want his old frustrations back. Much like the camerawork, it is all a faded memory that can only be looked back upon as inspiration for another novel.
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