Much as I admire Chicago-based filmmaker Joe Swanberg (Hannah Takes the Stairs, Drinking Buddies) for his dedicated work ethic (he’s directed 16 features and acted in dozens of others over the past decade), his movies drive me up the wall. His loose, improvised dialogue sounds like the stuff of acting workshops, and his slim narratives—which tend to focus on millennials hanging out—often strike me as aimless. I can’t deny his sure hand with actors; everyone onscreen seems so comfortable one might easily take for granted that Swanberg directed them. Nor can I deny his sensitivity to the zeitgeist; his films contain so many references to what’s happening in the culture at the time that they double as time capsules. Still I question whether Swanberg actually has anything to say about his time and place; I never leave his portraits of white, liberal, middle-class millennials feeling I’ve learned anything.
The next night Lee, leaving the child with her mother, goes to a bar and enjoys a night-long flirtation with a stranger (Orlando Bloom), from which Swanberg frequently cuts back to Tim digging in their yard. At one point Max returns to retrieve a purse she left the night before, and she stays to help Tim in his efforts. When night falls, they decide to have dinner together. Afterward they get stoned and play with the objects they’ve dug up, but the pleasant mood is killed when Ray returns unexpectedly and asks Tim if he’s planning to seduce Max. The young woman leaves, and the two men get into a fight. After kicking Ray out, Tim returns to the pit, only to stop digging when he discovers a wedding band on the hand of a human skeleton. He buries everything he’s uncovered and returns to the house to find Lee getting in. They take a shower together, pack their things, and leave.
Directed by Joe Swanberg
