Review of Take This Waltz (2011) by Marilee A — 10 Sep 2011

From TIFF:

Last night, I had the pleasure of seeing the red carpet premiere of Sarah Polly's new film, starring the wonderfully talented people Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman. Take This Waltz screams with confidence because Sarah Polly seems very attuned to what she wants and how to get it. This was also relevant in her previous film, Away From Her, one of the best films of the last decade.

Take This Waltz is gorgeously shot, framed, and the attention to detail in each scene gives the film a lot of depth and subtlety. It is also shot and takes place in my home city of Toronto. Toronto is a gorgeous city, and while the film isn't at all about the city, it reflects how living in Toronto affects the characters' lives, where they like to go, and what they like to do, making the setting as much a character as everyone else. Even the music is by some of Toronto's most famous artists.

Unfortunately, the film stumbles a lot because it's far too pretentious. The film is nothing more than a love triangle, but it tries way too hard to be this arty, Indie-rock infused statement on choices. If the film is about anything, it's about how the spark and chemistry that is so very apparent when we find new love disappears as the years go by, and we become too involved in routine, taking the relationship for granted. Sometimes, people find that spark in someone new, and too often get caught up in that new spark that they forget that said chemistry will eventually turn to routine just the same. This is a film that Richard Linklater would have made very well. Sarah Polley is too full of herself this time behind the chair that she forgets the kind of film she's making and in her quest to do something different, she chooses the wrong style for the wrong story, and almost wrecks the wonderful performances she's gotten out of Rogen, Williams, and Silverman.