Review of Late August, Early September (1999) by Daren F — 15 Jan 2009

Assayas, the director, tries to grab at the idea of human beings and their relation to themselves, their existences, and other beings, and he captures it by having a deft and loving touch. The plot follows a group of people that are friends and family to some other of the main characters, and the film observes them as they try to relate to others and find some kind of stablity or livelihood or whatever else they need. The cast is perfect in their roles, never overstepping the material and dragging it down into melodrama and the cliche. The film comes in and out of these peoples lives at different moments within about a year and unlike a film like [i]Rachel Getting Married, [/i]which shares in the observational film making, where the characters beings come out in three or so day. This film shows us snippets of their lives and thus showing how they have moved and what they are trying to do with their lives and who they want to be, not necessarily their relationships and the destructive and mending qualities of those relationships. Also, like Woody Allen (minus the fixed characters) the film is very talented in understanding the relationships of these people and seeing how they evolve and it seems completely real because the cast walks that thin line gracefully and because the script looks at the little things but does not try and make them big but simply shows them for what they are and how they can represent someones life.

I really hope this review is not too confusing and wordy (well I know its wordy). But it is a powerful and yet subtle film that deserves studying and a search for purpose because it is so delicately made and makes for amazing cinema. If you can find it, watch it because it is very strong.