Hannah Takes the Stairs

This is a great movie about nothing, but really about universal life issues that almost everyone finds themselves in. My favorite line, "does anything make anyone happy?" Definitely an indie flick, the plot unravels slowly then all at once.

...but only moderately entertaining. Usual Hollywood mess of what started as a good script. Put in my secondary collection for now.

Sad to see low ratings on this film. I thought it was a gem, and how could it not be? Swanburg, Duplass, Gerwig, and Bukalski are all incredible in their own right. If you're looking for a high tech, action packed film, this is not for you. But if you can enjoy the genre for what it is: A quirky, funny, incredibly realistic yet charming little story, you'll really enjoy it.

Easily the best effort to date of Joe Swanberg, an indie filmaker fav. This film rocks in its subtleties as Hannah grows into different relationships. No ninjas or zombies, but what can be more engaging then two people searching for love playing trumpets in a bathtub.

Transitionally and historically speaking, the entire canon of independent filmmaking has derived from a basic desire to be `anti-Hollywood;' a reaction to the sameness associated with mainstream films. But this movement known as Mumblecore became its own cookie-cutter, like putting up a mirror in front of something and calling the reflection the original. These films are so ingrained within Hollywood ideology, I wouldn't be surprised if big budget films started moving into this aesthetic for stylistic intent. Indie films in the past were reflexive of the politics of the era in order to challenge (for lack of a better term) 'mainstream' ideals in regards to cinema; this new mode of digital filmmaking has made an absolute economy out of it.Hannah is a basic plot; a bored girl has boring relationships, finds love, the end.Stylistically, we're dealing with an absolute bare bones project: The film keeps `on location,` the location typically being two or three sparsely decorated houses; the mise-en-scene is kept quite minimal. The cameras are also completely framed with a handheld `home video' look, exemplifying both the digital video era we are currently living in, as well as evoking a type of YouTube-esque exhibitionism.It's the content of Hannah that is so perplexingly frustrating; there is nothing that the text could be saying. The director is aiming for 'naturalized' acting, 'naturalized' situations, and 'ultimate realism.' But for what purpose? 'To document a generation.' Well, then do a documentary; don't create an absolutely facetious representation that is inherently speaking to absolutely nothing. What's the point of creating if there's no creativity?Cheapening form and content, in the sense, is another example of capitalistic deterioration of quality in favor of quantity also inspires the "I can do that" phenomenon; audience members view these cheap, `technically unfinished' films, get the idea to make their own, and in the process lessen the quality even further as time progresses. Look at how many filmmakers have emerged due to the "YouTube phenomenon," which transcends any sort of filmic value to the mode of a home video camera and digital assets. "By changing the world they exist in through labor," Dallas Smythe argues, "human beings at the same time alter their own nature, for the lives of people are influenced both by what they produce and how they produce."Scary concept if this is what my generation is calling a 'film movement representative of our culture.'

There is an opening shower scene with one lover. And a closing bathtub scene with a third lover. The middle lover didn't get a nude scene. The nude scenes are the highlight (the only highlight) of this movie. The cinematography is good so a star for that and another for the leading lady's charms. You have to wonder if they made up the script as they went along. It is worse than mundane. I cannot believe anyone talking like these people do. I cannot believe these people work at a television show. There are scenes where she makes faces at a bus stop. I don't know why she dumped the shower guy. But the bathtub guy playing a horn along with nude Hannah playing her horn was worth the $1.17 I paid for a used copy. But don't waste your life watching the middle of this. How did it ever get into blockbuster?

Greta Gerwig needs to either learn to act, write, and bathe, or she needs to get into some other business. Hannah Takes The Stairs is probably the worst of the mumblecore films, and I lay the blame largely on Greta. In everything she does, she looks .... sticky, she needs to see a dermatologist, she needs to stop using Mark Duplass's barber, and she needs to keep her clothes on. She's just not that nice to look at. In fact, if I were a guy her age, I wouldn't get near her.I was born in L.A. almost seventy years ago and have worked in theatre here the entire time. I taught drama at a popular Santa Monica academy. I taught (traditional) scriptwriting on campus. I've sold over forty stageplays and about a dozen (real) indie scripts. And I would have had my name taken off any that were part of the latest "Hey bottomfeeders -- let's get together and pretend to make a film!" garbage that actually seems to have a (very small) audience.I watch this junk so I can better advise clients about how to produce quality work, including what not to do. What do the rest of you people find in it?

An unusual but provocative film that seems spontaneous, which strangely adds to its magic. I was captivated by it.Down Pat