I identify with almost everyone and everything in Josh Radner's Liberal Arts. Marketed as a romcom about a thirtysomething who goes back to his old college and falls for a student, it's actually about two things close to my core being. First, it shows very accurately what it is to have a liberal arts degree, and how it shapes your thinking. Second, it's really about the malaise of age, whatever age that might be. We meet characters from four distinct age groups, and none are happy with how old they actually are. The film isn't so much about boy meets girl as it is about acting and feeling your age and finding contentment in that. As someone of Radner's generation who works AT a university AND have an English lit degree, I know exactly what he's talking about. The film is funny, touching, truthful and filled with great actors, conversations and moments.
Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts" does a remarkable job of emulating and recreating that nebulous world of higher learning from obsession over the Arts to the complexities of your first serious romances. What is excellent here is that the story, while slightly overwrought and overlong, is filtered through the eyes of a 35-year-old adult returning to his alma mater which lets us all see what it would be like to go back to those halcyon days of unfettered access to education. The film owes much to both Zach Braff's "Garden State" and many of Woody Allen's more introspective films on life, love and Mozart (including an affinity here for those long one-shot walking scenes that Allen and Radnor share). Elizabeth Olsen was surprisingly effective in this role.
Ultimately, while it's a series of interesting and well-performed scenes, they don't really seem to add up to much with substance, but I greatly look forward to seeing what Radnor offers us in the future.
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Siskoid
I identify with almost everyone and everything in Josh Radner's Liberal Arts. Marketed as a romcom about a thirtysomething who goes back to his old college and falls for a student, it's actually about two things close to my core being. First, it shows very accurately what it is to have a liberal arts degree, and how it shapes your thinking. Second, it's really about the malaise of age, whatever age that might be. We meet characters from four distinct age groups, and none are happy with how old they actually are. The film isn't so much about boy meets girl as it is about acting and feeling your age and finding contentment in that. As someone of Radner's generation who works AT a university AND have an English lit degree, I know exactly what he's talking about. The film is funny, touching, truthful and filled with great actors, conversations and moments.frankqb
Josh Radnor's "Liberal Arts" does a remarkable job of emulating and recreating that nebulous world of higher learning from obsession over the Arts to the complexities of your first serious romances. What is excellent here is that the story, while slightly overwrought and overlong, is filtered through the eyes of a 35-year-old adult returning to his alma mater which lets us all see what it would be like to go back to those halcyon days of unfettered access to education. The film owes much to both Zach Braff's "Garden State" and many of Woody Allen's more introspective films on life, love and Mozart (including an affinity here for those long one-shot walking scenes that Allen and Radnor share). Elizabeth Olsen was surprisingly effective in this role.Ultimately, while it's a series of interesting and well-performed scenes, they don't really seem to add up to much with substance, but I greatly look forward to seeing what Radnor offers us in the future.
Rating: 3 stars out of 4
Mette
A wonderful film about the love of literature, music and people!semyachkina
Best about-romance-scene ever!