Chris Hardwick's Blog, page 2191

Woody Harrelson Seemingly Confirms Who He’s Playing in STAR WARS Standalone

Keeping secrets in a galaxy far, far away isn’t always easy. Remember when in September 2015 and listed his character’s name as Galen? He then later revealed the tidbit about Galen being Jyn’s father in a news segment. Oops. Woody Harrelson is finding himself in the same being asked questions about his metaphorical Star Wars shoes since Lucasfilm confirmed his role in the untitled Han Solo standalone film. And it seems like he just told us which character he’s playing.

Neither Lucasfilm or Disney have offered specifics on Harrelson’s role, but when the report of Harrelson’s involvement started, it was said he would be a mentor to Han. While promoting his new film Wilson, Harrelson joined Mashable in a Facebook Live Q&A and confirmed his character’s teacher student type relationship with Han; he said, “I’m a mentor to Han, but I’m also a bit of a criminal.”

While talking with Variety about Wilson at the Sundance Film Festival on Sunday, he went a step further and seemed to confirm his character’s identity. CinemaBlend picked up on the confirmation, pointing out that Harrelson answers in the affirmative to a question about whether he’s playing Garris Shrike. Watch and listen:

The question specifically mentions Garris Shrike, and Harrelson asks for the name to be repeated before he considers it and eventually says, “Yeah, I am.” There’s a chance Harrelson was just reconfirming his role as a mentor in the film. We’ve reached out to Lucasfilm for comment but haven’t heard back as of time of publishing.

And hey, Garris Shrike is an existing character that fits the description Harrelson gave Mashable. Shrike first appeared in the Legends title The Paradise Snare by A.C. Crispin in 1997. I theorized the character was one of the options for who Harrelson would be playing. Shrike’s a bounty hunter who picked up orphans and used them for profit by forcing them to pick pockets or be beggars. Shrike found a young Han on the streets on Corellia, used him, raised him, and also taught him. The Shrike from the books is most definitely a criminal. They could soften and alter the character or leave him as is to give Han an extra screwed-up past.

Do you think Harrelson confirmed he’s playing Shrike? Tell me your thoughts in the comments, and if you’re familiar with the character, tell me how you hope they write him for the screen.

Featured Image: Lionsgate

What else might we know about the Han Solo movie?

Sam Elliott is Beyond Magnificent in Mournful, Poetic THE HERO (Sundance Review)

Picture Sam Elliott playing a grizzled old actor, iconic for a genre left largely behind by Hollywood, trying to understand his neglected relationships after learning which disease is going to kill him. Whatever perfection you’re imagining, Elliott somehow surpasses it.

Following in the thematic footsteps of I’ll See You In My Dreams, co-writer/director Brett Haley’s The Hero is a marriage of incomparable veteran talent and a character worthy of it. Elliott plays Lee Hayden, a 72-year-old acting icon whose heyday was 40 years ago. Now doing voice-over work for BBQ sauce commercials, he’s bummed that movie studios never call his agent, but seems just as content to bum around his weed dealer/friend Jeremy’s (Nick Offerman) house watching Buster Keaton flicks. He’s divorced, effectively estranged from his daughter Lucy (Krysten Ritter), and staring down the barrel of a lifetime achievement award from a small cowboy movie fan club.

Oh, and pancreatic cancer’s 5% survival rate.

When he meets Charlotte (Laura Prepon) through Jeremy, she becomes a much-needed companion and sounding board for understanding the bulk of his life and a death that’s suddenly around the corner. As you can probably guess, this is a contemplative, conversational film–like a Richard Linklater movie with a slight tilt toward fantasy. At night, when he can sleep, Lee dreams that he’s starring in a movie in the shadow of a man hanged from a tree. Yet its surreal imagery isn’t full-on psychedelia, even (thankfully) when Lee does Molly or eats mushrooms. Like a cowboy on a tennis court, these visuals are meant to push reality just an inch to the left. To jostle symbols out of their familiar context.

While the film is an exploration of a tired (so tired) actor’s relationships, it’s neither slow nor wholly ephemeral. In fact, it’s propelled largely by plot, like changes in Lee’s circumstances and small tastes of what he thinks he wants. Given nuanced life by Prepon, Charlotte is a breath of fresh air and a point of confusion. Their May-December romance is lovely and strange, and The Hero wisely confronts its awkwardness head-on, turning something most movies avoid altogether into an emotional line in the sand. Far from manic or pixie, Charlotte has a smart, casual outlook on life and a great capacity for empathy. Without her, Lee might have wallowed, alone, leaving emergency services with the burden of telling his family that cancer killed him.

One of The Hero‘s most potent concepts is how a terminal diagnosis, especially at an older age, can open the door to a soft kind of suicide. Lee is faced, in raw terms, with the choice to fight like hell for extra life measured in months or to give up and let go. Beyond the typical, creeping mortality of old age, he also knows what’s going to kill him. Abstract death made concrete.

The other big idea swirling around comes when a video of Lee, stoned out of his mind at an awards banquet, goes viral. His celebrity status returns, and we get a sense of his reluctance for the trappings of fame that come beyond doing the work. He stays insular, hanging out with his friends instead of front-facing his new public, as if celebrity is something that must happen far away from the person who’s famous. That status, and the person who earns it, is shown as a commodity here, good solely for how others can use it.

The first half of the film is largely shot (by DP Rob Givens) in ways to push us off balance, crafting an air of uncertainty that mirrors the big questions and lack of answers Lee faces. We get angled shots from behind his head as he’s speaking and open frames that make Lee look small in his own home. As he searches for clarity, the cinematography follows suit to smart effect.

The Hero is a singular vision that, even when it seems like it’s overreaching, finds a way to stick the landing–including a worrisome gag with on-hold music that turns into one of the biggest, most jarring laughs.

This story of one man’s regrets and triumphs offers the full spectrum: it’s engrossing and funny and sad. It seems trite to bring up next year’s awards season while at Sundance, but Elliott’s worthiness is undeniable. This performance is masterful in its subtlety, wit and anguished realism, proving that it’s absolutely bonkers that Elliott hasn’t even been nominated for an Oscar before. Why, America, have we so neglected everyone’s golden-sandpaper-throated grandpa?

Early on in The Hero, Lee describes movies as “other people’s dreams.” This particular movie allows us a profound, sweet glimpse into this man’s dreams, and in a world dominated by explosively loud cinema, this quietly poetic trip speaks volumes.

5 out of 5 Platinum Cookie Burritos

Images: Park Pictures

VOLTRON Recap: ‘The Ark of Taujeer’ Solves a Few Mysteries

The following is a full recap of Voltron: Legendary Defender season 2, episode 6, “The Ark of Taujeer.” Go watch it before you read this, or don’t complain about spoilers if you choose not to.

That last episode was an intense one, huh? Lord Zarkon seems more intent than ever to utterly crush the paladins and retrieve the Black Lion, and that puts everybody on Team Voltron at risk. As “The Ark of Taujeer” began, we learned of yet another planet that had fallen to Zarkon’s power, with the poor Taujeerian people having all of their natural resources zapped by Morbok, an under-general of the Galra Empire. He even incapacitated the Taujeerian ark, a ship which was the last way for the people to leave their slowly-imploding world. Hoo boy.

On Castle Ship, both Allura and Keith believed they alone were to blame for Zarkon tracking them, Allura using evidence of them being found in the first place on Altea, and Keith because he has that dagger with the insignia of the Blade of Marmora. It was also suggested that Zarkon is tracking them through the Black Lion–which DUH!–but it was dismissed because no paladin/lion connection can be intense enough to span that great a distance. Shiro wanted to take the fight to the Galra and not be constantly on the defensive, and luckily, Pidge was a genius enough to be able to create what Hunk reductively called a “Galra Finder.” Since they know the Galra were around Taujeer, they decided to go there.

During the night, both Keith and Allura decided they needed to leave the ship for the sake of the others, and so they decided to leave together. When the ship reached Taujeer, Shiro wondered where Allura and Keith were and learned that a shuttle had launched in the night. He contacted the shuttle and the pair replied that if Zarkon tracks them, they’ll know it’s one of them…but if he tracks the Castle Ship, it must be something else. A fair hypothesis, but a bad time to scarper; the Taujeerians need the full power of Voltron. The four remaining lions land and try to help the people repair their ship to leave, while the Green Lion mended the cracks in the planet with vines and the Blue Lion soldered it together with ice. It was a pretty decent plan.

However, the problem was that, FRIGGING OBVIOUSLY, Zarkon was tracking the Black Lion and so sent Marbok and his cruisers back to Taujeer to stop Voltron from helping the people leave. (Sidebar: What the hell?! How evil can you be?! Just let people not get wiped out by your shitty imperialism! Jeez!) So while Hunk attempts to keep the ark upright, Shiro, Lance, and Pidge use their Lions’ jaw blades (wait, they have JAW BLADES?) to make huge gashes in Morbok’s ship, but it’s not quite enough. They need Voltron! Coran attempted to bond with the Red Lion enough to pilot it–he even wore a uniform and a cape!–but the Red Lion instead just took off into space.

Keith and Allura had been waiting for Zarkon to possibly appear, and spoke at length about how Allura still doesn’t trust the Blade of Mamora, thinking it likely to be a Galra trap. Once the shuttle learned that Zarkon was indeed not tracking them, they attempted to zoom back using some upgrades Pidge put on it, but they instead caused the shuttle to explode and Keith and Allura were stuck floating in space…until the Red Lion appeared! Keith’s bond with it was strong enough for the lion to traverse space to retrieve him. As it returned to Taujeer, and the five lions were together again, Voltron was formed, and together they forged a new weapon: a big-huge-enormous-saber, which cut down Morbok’s ship and saved the day.

So now the crew knows that Zarkon is connected to the Black Lion, having been its pilot in the past. Oh dear, things are getting very grim. Hopefully Shiro can do something about it soon…maybe in the next episode!

Images: DreamWorks/Netflix

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

Watch the POWER RANGERS Movie Trailer Recut to Match the TV Intro

With only a few weeks until the new Power Rangers movie hits theaters, there still seems to be a rift between old school purist fans of the show and people welcoming the new, somewhat gritty, big screen take on the super-powered team of teens. In what we look at as something to bridge that divide, a new trailer has been cut with the original theme.

YouTuber Sebastian Hughes edited some of the new movie’s trailer footage to look just like (or as close to) the original opening credits as possible and placed the original’s audio track over it to bring us back to simpler power-ranging times. The result is equal parts nostalgic and eye-opening as it makes us come to grips with just how–let’s face it–incredibly silly the original show was. Whether intentional or not, this re-cut trailer brings together old and new making us feel a bit better about being able to still love the original while also being open to the next installment. For comparison, take another look at the original opening credits for Mighty Morphin Power Rangers while reminding yourself there were already a few attempts at recreating this on the big screen.

It’s evident that the new film will deviate from the original and we’re likely to lose a good deal of the campiness the show was known for, but is that really a bad thing if you consider some of the nightmares we had about that giant pig head in a centurion helmet?

What are your thoughts on the new Power Rangers film? Let’s discuss it in the comments below!

Images: Saban

Seems like a good time to look at this again:

Charlie Hunnam Comes From Nothing in New KING ARTHUR: LEGEND OF THE SWORD Trailer and Poster

The legend of Camelot is getting a new take later this year, as Charlie Hunnam takes up Excalibur, the fabled sword of King Arthur, in director Guy Ritchie‘s latest film. But King Arthur: Legend of the Sword isn’t the usual high fantasy take on Arthurian lore. Instead, Ritchie appears to be making the famous tale into a revenge epic.

In the latest trailer, Arthur says “I am here now because of you. You created me. For that, I bless you.” It seems likely that Arthur is addressing his uncle, King Vortigern (Jude Law), the man who slew Arthur’s father, Uther Pendragon (Eric Bana), before seizing the kingdom for himself. As the video notes, Arthur was raised in poverty and came from nothing until he pulled the fabled sword from the stone. The trailer also shows off a taste of Arthur’s fury before sending him off to meet his destiny.

There’s a new poster too:

Kamil Lemieszewski is reportedly playing Merlin, or at least a character similar to the iconic wizard. There are a few more familiar figures from Arthurian mythology that are also going to play key roles in Arthur’s rise to power, including Guinevere (Àstrid Bergès-Frisbey) and Bedivere (Djimon Hounsou). Other famous characters may appear in a possible sequel, if the film manages to spawn a new franchise. And it looks like there are monsters too.

King Arthur: Legend of the Sword will be released on Friday, May 12.

What did you think about the newest trailer for this film? Draw your swords and declare your opinions in the comment section below!

Image: Warner Bros. Pictures

SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE Had an Arresting Take on Awards Movie-Shaming

When your friends are all cinephiles, it can be hard enough going against the grain when consensus has determined that certain films are absolutely, objectively bad while others are the best thing ever (people are finally coming around to my love for the Jean-Claude Van Damme Street Fighter movie, but damn, that took decades). Now, try being the kind of frequent filmgoer who watches all the potential Oscar nominees, but invariably doesn’t get to see them as early as the critics and Oscar bloggers, who have already predetermined which ones you’re supposed to like and not like. It’s not so easy to admit to tastes that go against the grain…to the only other people who have actually seen these movies yet.

Saturday Night Live literalized it last night, by having Aziz Ansari arrested for an incorrect opinion–namely, that La La Land isn’t the best thing ever. And when his objections didn’t prove to be absolutely airtight because he hadn’t paid attention to every detail? Well, that’s like debating Star Wars against somebody who knows the entire history of the Expanded Universe.

Inevitably, of course, the interrogator proved to be just as hypocritical and inconsistent, at least until Kenan Thompson showed up to voice an absolutely blasphemous opinion that Nerdist cannot and will never condone, despite our normally tolerant ways. You’ll know it when you hear it.

What unpopular opinions would send you to movie jail? Which of your friends’ opinions do you think deserve a thorough interrogation to see if they’re of sound mind? and most importantly, what is your pick for most award-worthy movie of the year? (We promise not to arrest you, even if it’s Norm of the North.) Let us know in comments below.

Image: NBC

VOLTRON Recap: “Greening the Cube” Puts Nature Against Machines

Friends, Paladins, Altean diplomats! Please be aware that the following is a recap of season 2 episode 4 of Voltron: Legendary Defender, entitled “Greening the Cube.” Please be on the lookout for spoilers, because that’s all there is. You’ve been warned!

The first season of Voltron: Legendary Defender hinted at there being uptapped power and potential in each of the five lions that our new paladins had yet to discover. So far in season two, we’re seeing that potential start to show up a little. We’ve already seen Lance’s Blue Lion exhibit fierce ice powers, and in episode four, “Greening the Cube,” we saw Pidge’s Green Lion get a chance to be something more. Blue Lion equals ice, so guess what Green Lion equals…

The episode began with the paladins on the exterior of Castle Ship making repairs. Despite Hunk’s mechanical prowess, he doesn’t quite know how to decipher Altean writing, so Pidge has to do it. Pidge has established herself as the technological whiz of the group, and made mention here that that’s kind of all she knows. Oh Pidge of little self-faith. While on the exterior of the ship, the paladin were surrounded by squishy bio-luminescent pulsing things. Naturally, the crew started throwing them at each other like snowballs, but Pidge figured out they were spores carrying a distress signal emanating from a forest planet.

Coran shared that the people on that planet were the universe’s best engineers, creating a cool little box that can replicate sounds and voices. Pidge was in complete awe of this device and was eager to meet the race who built it. When the crew got to the planet, though, they learned that these great engineers were forced to move to the forest to escape a Galra occupation which had kidnapped the beloved king and threatened to kill him if engineers did not create a giant weapon to defeat Voltron. The leader of the tree people explains to Pidge–who is fairly averse to nature–that nature’s designs are far more complex than any an engineer could come up with. They can commune with both technology and organics and create weapons out of trees. The leader asks Pidge to try it, and it turns out she’s a natural!

But first things first; they gotta get the king back. The paladins piled into the Green Lion, which has stealth capabilities, and the four other pilots infiltrated the Galra facility. However, when the got to the king’s “cell,” they discovered him sitting on a recliner watching a movie. After making their presence known, the king immediately called security. See, he’d made a deal with the Galra invaders for a luxurious life in exchange for helping propagate the lie which forces the citizens to help build the weapon. Dastardly coward, that king. The Galra security force was about to execute all four paladins plus the king when Pidge laser-beamed the wall in the Green Lion and rescued them.

Bad news now, though, was that the Galra forces had their cube weapon ready to go and didn’t need the slaves anymore. The commander believed he could win points with Lord Zarkon by handing over the cube weapon AND the Lions in one fell swoop. The paladins formed Voltron, but the firepower had no effect on the giant cube, as it simply returned the blasts, a form of the same repeating cube Coran had. They used the sword on it, but it just split unto four smaller but equally powerful cubes. Voltron split back into Lions and it was up to Pidge to use her newfound nature-communing skills; she and the Green Lion became super-connected and zapped each cube which caused a massive plant to grow out of it, destroying the internal workings.

The paladins left the planet of the forest people after they affirmed allegiance in the fight against Zarkon, but no sooner had they returned to the Castle Ship than the entire Galra fleet came out of hyperspace around them! CLIFFHANGER!

“Greening the Cube” was an interesting episode about the power connecting nature and technology and gave Pidge another chance to shine. She’s fast become one of my favorite characters on the show, and Bex Taylor-Klaus as always gives a brilliant vocal performance.

Share your thoughts on “Greening the Cube” in the comments below!

Images: DreamWorks/Netflix

Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!

STAR WARS REBELS Recap: Sabine Faces a Crossroads

Warning: This recap contains spoilers for the Star Wars Rebels episode “Trials of the Darksaber.” Jump into hyperspace and away from this page if you haven’t watched the episode yet.

Sacrifice. I’d bet most members of the Rebel Alliance have a story about what they gave up in order to fight against the oppression of the Empire. Resisting comes at a price, illustrating the point that doing what’s right isn’t what’s easy. We learned about the cost of Sabine’s defection to the Rebellion in the newest Star Wars Rebels, “Trials of the Darksaber.”

Before we talk about Sabine’s huge step forward and her bravery, let’s discuss the darksaber. Sabine found the Mandalorian weapon in “Visions and Voices” when she visited Maul’s lair on Dathomir. The unique lightsaber was introduced in Star Wars: The Clone Wars and it has a uh, colorful history. Created by Jedi Tar Vizsla, the weapon was passed down through the years and is known for being responsible for many Jedi deaths and being a symbol for ruling and joining Mandalore. In other words, it’s a huge freaking deal for Sabine to pick up the weapon with the intention of wielding it—especially considering she hails from House Vizsla.

You could see all of the darksaber’s history weighing on Sabine’s shoulders as Fenn Rau, Hera, and company encouraged her to use the weapon. It comes with immense responsibility, and Sabine was scared to face her family. Though watching the scene play out wasn’t easy, I rather admire Hera for pointing out to Sabine the benefit of aligning the Mandalorians with the Rebellion is bigger than any discomfort and anxiety Sabine is experiencing. Someone has to look out for the big picture, and given Hera’s position, she was beholden to mention the positive gains.

Once Sabine accepted that she had to use the darksaber to try to recruit her clan (and all the Mandalorians, no pressure), Kanan decided to teach her. I want to say we got a training montage, but the back and forth between Kanan and Sabine was more meaningful than a series of clips. Sabine did pick up the basics in a matter of days, yes, but it wasn’t easy—despite, or maybe because of, her extensive combat training and background.

Kanan was a better teacher with Sabine than he was with Ezra. Time has passed, he’s learned, and his time with Bendu helped him let go of his fears. Still, he held back a little and Sabine struggled. It took Ezra, Kanan, Hera, and Fenn Rau coming together combined with Sabine’s persistence to reach a breakthrough.

So much about the training was well written. From Hera pushing Kanan, to Kanan slapping Sabine down after she tried using the gauntlets as a shortcut, from Ezra having to teach Sabine how to do something, to Sabine’s epiphany. This was one of those episodes where every word landed, so by the time the emotional ending came around, it sang.

Going back to what Sabine sacrificed for the Rebellion: we learned she tried to help Mandalore by working with the Empire. However, it ultimately led to her contributing to the Empire enslaving her people. Her family sided with the Empire. She left. She was branded a traitor. Leaving your clan in Mandalorian culture is a major transgression. Sabine’s carrying guilt and conflict with her, and the darksaber is forcing her to face all of it.

Can I just say how much Tiya Sircar and Freddie Prinze, Jr. nailed this episode? They both brought weight and nuance to Sabine’s and Kanan’s lines. Basically, they delivered all the feels. Both characters took steps forward in “Trials of the Darksaber.”

Two more quick thoughts: how cool were those gauntlets Fenn Rau gave Sabine? It’s neat/scary to see a device Mandalorians have crafted specifically to fight Jedi. Secondly, did you hear Chopper purr at the beginning of the episode? I want a Chopper toy that emits the purring noise.

How do you feel about Sabine’s training? Shout out in the comments or come talk to me on Twitter.

Images: Disney XD

What’s next for Star Wars?

Marvel’s AVENGERS Tsum Tsums Assemble in Cake Form

Any Disney Tsum Tsum addict knows the more stackable softies, the merrier, and that’s true when it comes to tasty treats too. Now lucky Tsum Tsum fans in Japan can stack their sweets because the Cozy Corner bakery chain is assembling the Avengers in tiny cake form!

When you think about it, Tsum Tsums are the perfect sugary inspiration. Cute, tiny and colorful, they easily translate into delicious desserts. This set of nine cakes each represent a different hero.

Rocket News translated the mouthwatering descriptions and it seems each Avenger cake is individual in their own way but the flavors come together–just like a team! I made that up, but seriously there’s no way I’d eat just one of these so I appreciate that all the flavors seem to balance each other out.

The Black Widow is a chocolate cream and white chocolate tart, the Hawkeye is a mango cream roll cake. Thor is a passion fruit ganache and lemon cream tart, and the Falcon is a chocolate cream and cocoa sponge roll cake.

That’s only half the heroes, Spider-Man is a raspberry roll cake, Captain America is a mint white chocolate cream tart, while Iron Man is white chocolate cream and raspberry sponge roll cake. Probably my favorite is the matcha chestnut tart with sweet beans Hulk cake. Not because it even resembles Hulk in the slightest, but because it looks like what would be left if Hulk actually smashed a cake.

To round out the adorably packaged box of pastries is a Marvel Tsum Tsum Logo cake of vanilla, white chocolate cream and cocoa sponge.

The box of sweets goes for 2,268 yen (US$20) but is only available until February 14. Head over to Cozy Corner’s website to order your own box of Avenger Tsum Tsum cakes.

Which Marvel Tsum Tsum dessert is your favorite? Let us know in the comments and tag us with your Tsum Tsum high score @nerdist and @justjenn on twitter!

Images: Cozy Corner, Marvel

What’s next for the Avengers?

PERSON TO PERSON Is an Ode to the Weirdness of New York Characters (Sundance Review)

A friend of mine once described his dog walker (a middle-aged Brazilian woman who babbled aloud to herself with the utmost conviction) as “a real New York character.” Though a generous label, welcoming association with the great variety of gonzo behavior that you’re likely to find upon setting up camp in any of the five boroughs, it nonetheless ensures a vivid understanding of the general sort of kook you’re dealing with. Connected only by this distinctive weirdness that comes gratis with their shared geography are the players and premises of Person to Person. Weaving together four slice-of-life stories set in Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens, Dustin Guy Defa’s new feature at Sundance sets out to paint a loving picture of its focal city’s je ne sais quoi.

Of course, this very same endeavor has proven the Big Apple quite the evasive muse for many the wide-eyed film school graduate. Person to Person’s photography alone may tell us why it succeeds where peers falter. Translating the aforementioned versatility in New York’s class of oddballs to the visual, Defa and cinematographer Ashley Connor brilliantly—and I mean that in more than one way—pair each showcased story with a unique aesthetic scheme. Tavi Gevinson’s ennui-stricken Upper East Side teen drifts through a world ranging from white to eggshell, while scruffy music dealer Bene Coopersmith lives in a veneer so rich and brown it practically dropped me back inside the velvet- and mahogany-based living room of grandfather’s apartment in Flushing, Queens.

Accompanying the vibrancy of its look is that of its characters and stories, most of which seem to be buzzing around in a manner so aimless and chaotic as to practically demand comparison to real life. Thus, like reality, some of Person to Person’s vignettes are stronger than others. A plotline involving a depressed lay-about’s betrayal of an ex-girlfriend’s privacy, while handled with stymying bemusement by a dead-faced George Sample III, doesn’t quite match the narrative drive of Abbi Jacobson and Michael Cera’s adventure in ad-hoc investigative journalism. Neither of these packs the emotional punch of Gevinson’s self-sabotaging devotion to her own misanthropic angst. And none of the lot can claim the comic magnitude of the best piece of the bunch: Coopersmith’s mission to acquire a suspicious Charlie Parker record… and, perhaps more importantly, an honest assessment of his new shirt.

Still, each has something to chew on, even if only the artistry in frowning that’s put on display by its central players. So committed to the look of the city as paramount to its character is Person to Person that it does marathon-grade work with the faces of its actors—due credit to champion frowners like Sample, Jacobson, Gevinson, Coopersmith, and reigning champ Philip Baker Hall. Armed with a gift for New York’s default facial expression, each of the bunch communicates the inscrutable malaise that accompanies residential adherence to the beautiful, miserable city at the center of this piece.

Though you’d be a fool to try to nail down exactly what Person to Person is “about,” none of its stories stray too far from the decision—no, the compulsion–to be broken and alive here. The theme peers through in the yearning of Jacobson and Cera’s Seattle and Cincinnati expats to keep up with the dangerous pulse of the city, in Gevinson’s hyper-awareness of her native Manhattan toxicity, and in the very chromosomes of crazy-eyed Coopersmith. At one point manifesting as a homicidal caper and at another a nihilistic diatribe-laden character study, Person to Person is a lot like the New York character it celebrates: indefinable but unmistakable.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Images: Sundance Institute

Michael Arbeiter is the East Coast Editor of Nerdist. Find him on Twitter @MichaelArbeiter.