Starting Out In The Evening

A beautifully contemplative film that evolves at a pace like natural breathing. It captures the interiors of the Upper West Side of New York with the intimacy they contain in person. It also evokes the warmth of late fall and early winter on Manhattan streets with a similar intimacy that made this relocated New Yorker very homesick. Wagner shows the intellectual culture of New York writers with an understated appreciation. The small cast is outstanding and the direction extremely thoughtful. This is one of Lily Taylor's finest performances. Her onscreen relationship with Frank Langella in which they play a father and daughter is seamlessly crafted. This is a film about relationships as much as it is about the art of writing, the selfishness of the artist, and also the obsessive interest of the writer's critic. These are wonderfully flawed relationships and the scene development of the various points of conflict the four main characters struggle with is practically perfect. I was consistently reminded of real life arguments I have had with people close to me. Like the warmth of the interior spaces Wagner films, he also leaves us with a core of warmth in the resilience of Langella's character as he continues to write at the end of his life, and in the relationship between his daughter Ariel and her lover Casey, two people who have very different views of life, but who are also deeply in love with each other. We feel at the end that they just might make it and that kind of authentic hope is a rare cinematic gift.

I love this film. The cast is superb, the plot so well crafted, script beautifully written. The Director’s commentary is amazing. This work is one of my favorites with Frank Langella.

Frank Langella is amazing and reserved in this film. Giving the appearance of a fading intellect in a world that doesn't much have room for fading intellect anymore. A young woman breathes new life into him and his work as she does a dissertation on his work for her Master's. She sees herself as Malcolm Cowley, reintroducing the world to William Faulkner, as she wants to reintroduce his work to the world. There's a side story of Langella's daughter in the film that I feel is lackluster and pulls away from the main movie, feels like someone who doesn't understand how to transfer a book to a film (this is based on the novel by Brian Morton). It is a solid film, with great characters and great stories and it's enjoyable, if not a bit long winded, and slow to start. Still highly recommended.

This superb film really should have taken home Oscars - perhaps as many as three, for Frank Langella's brilliant lead performance, Lili Taylor's turn as the daughter, and certainly the screenplay by Fred Parnes and Andrew Wagner which discovered all the soul of Brian Morton's novel while losing only the page-count building 'for English-professors-only' references and complications.Starting Out in the Evening is a 'small' story. The heroics are minimal, the scale completely personal, and yet on film this is never small or dull. Langella towers over the New York that has forgotten him, that has moved past a time when intellectual and creative power meant more than money. As his turning-40 daughter Taylor struggles with the battles of her own generation - hunting for both meaning and family, while Lauren Ambrose's Heather Wolfe carries the city of today into their realm, selfish and self-obsessed, consumed with the ideas of personality and fame.It is a delicious triangle with much to say about the stages of life, the progress of American culture, and the power of creativity. But none of it is ever shouted. The script by Parnes and Wagner, along with Wagner's perfect directorial balance, and lighting and cinematography which establishes a fully-realized city and time, does not preach, it simply brings the viewer in to these three lives and trusts that we will understand.Near perfect. Watch it. Starting Out in the Evening will be one of the best cinematic evenings of your year.

I love Frank Langella and this was the first time I ever saw this film. The adjectives to describe this film are endless.I will not go into too much detail about the plot for fear of spoiling the viewer's enjoyment.The other reviews on here pretty much outline the story, so I will just add how much I enjoyed it.Lauren Ambrose and Lily Taylor have been on my favorites list since I watched the wonderful series 'Six Feet Under' on HBO.Langella is just nothing short of the best actor in any media you can find. I remember him from the 70s when he first started outin the spotlight as a sex symbol. But his talent at the time was overshadowed by the hype of his good looks at the time. Now that he's older, he's shown the world how distinguished and classy he is and now his talent is getting the recognition it so richly deserves.He's always had the gift, but only a few of us out here have been mesmerized by it all this time.Yes, he should have gotten an Oscar nod for this roll.And he's still a wonderful looking man too!!!

One of the best films I've ever seen. Believe me, I don't say that lightly. This is a tour de force for Frank Langella, a masterpiece. Mesmerizing. Compared to his Dracula days, no comparison. This is wonderfully written and filmed, every shot framed with increasing claustrophobia. But the trap is the body, and the fact of aging, set against the necessarily shocking greed and driven selfishness of youth. Lily Taylor is wonderful too in a difficult part. This film is not light entertainment. It's brilliant.

Frank Langella and the rest of the cast were superb. An excellent film, heart breaking at times. Very fine writing

an excellent drama, well-acted and well- written

This story is well presented and, for me, was a sleeper hit. Frank Langella gained my true respect as an actor. He is very talented.