Review of Monogamy (2010) by Tristan A — 05 Mar 2011

Dana Adam Shapiro is best known for the exciting and inspiring documentary, MURDER BALL, for which he received an Academy Award nomination 5 years ago. MONOGAMY is his narrative directorial debut, and was an Independent Spirit Award nominee this year for Best First Screenplay.

Although the film features two very appealing leads in Chris Messina and Rashida Jones, I wish I could report that Shapiro's transition to drama is a triumph, but there's just not a lot going on in this film. Anyone who has ever seen BLOW UP will recognize the story of a photographer who becomes unusually obsessed with his subject. Here, Messina is that photographer who is engaged to Jones and begins to doubt their relationship when he becomes more and more fixated on a woman he's been paid to photograph from afar.

The film is spare, quiet, and told entirely from the point of view of the male gaze. It's all about how Messina's character sees women and questions his own ability to stay true to the woman he's about to marry. Messina holds the screen well, but is given very little to do here except look at a LOT of people and photos.

Jones, does some fine, subtle work here but her character is too conveniently sidelined midway through the film, and never really recovers from it. For a while there, it looked like we were going to participate in her obsessions with men, but it never really comes to pass. I've become such a fan of her work from THE OFFICE, PARKS AND RECREATION, and THE SOCIAL NETWORK. She never overdoes things and always creates credible modern women. One climactic scene in particular, where our leads confront each other, plays out beautifully with the rhythms of how a couple really argues. No big histrionics, just quiet forcefulness.

Like so many unambitious indies of this sort, there's a relentlessly probing handheld camera aesthetic, and quiet moodiness....and little else. There's a little surprise twist late in the game which was ridiculously telegraphed early on, so boo hiss to that!

Some humans mate for life, but my "relationship" with this heartfelt but shallow film pretty much ended as soon as the credits rolled. A forgettable trick if you will.