Paper Year
(Canada, 90 min.)
Written and directed by Rebecca Addelman
Starring: Eve Hewson, Avan Jogia, Andie MacDowell, Hamish
Linklater, Grace Glowicki
 |
| Pacific Northwest Pictures |
The traditional gift for one’s first anniversary is paper.
Maybe a card, a certificate, or a photograph might find its way into some
wrappings as newlyweds celebrate their first year of marriage. Franny (Eve
Hewson, Enough Said) and Dan (Avan
Jogia, Ghost Wars) gift themselves an
ironic piece of paper when Paper Year
takes stock at their first year of marriage. This dramedy from Ottawa-born
filmmaker Rebecca Addelman illustrates with bittersweet humour how the best
gifts are often paper—and by that, I mean receipts.
Paper Year gives
honeymoon bliss a reality check as Franny and Dan struggle to make ends meet.
Financial strain and job insecurity are tough on any relationship and they take
their toll on the couple as they settle for jobs that pay the bills. (She’s an
aspiring writer, he’s a wannabe actor.) As Franny lands a hack job writing copy
for a cheesy game show and Dan half-assedly becomes a professional house
sitter, their gigs bring their own temptations as she finds herself smitten
with an attentive co-worker, Noah (Hamish Linklater), and he makes connections
with Hailey (Daniela Barbosa), the sexy actress whose house (and bed) he’s
looking after. These young lovers quickly realize that the responsibilities of monogamy
and creating a family are true commitments one shouldn’t take lightly.
Franny becomes obsessed with saving up for the marriage ceremony they sacrificed by eloping. She natters on about money, clearly as a passive aggressive wedge to inspire Dan to get off his lazy butt and work, and the childish strategy simply shows that neither of them is ready for this commitment. Moreover, their juvenile game speaks to the current state of marriage between millennials when pockets of the generation struggles to grasp the point of marriage anyways. Is it a public declaration of love? A sacrament? An opportunity to upgrade the kitchen? It can be any or all of those, but no relationship thrives in the dark.
Addelman’s character-driven film makes the most of its California
settings to draw out the false promise of the couple’s dreams. The bright homes
on the rolling hills and California canyons have an emptiness and a deadness to
them the longer Franny and Dan marinate in Hailey’s swanky home. Both Franny
and Dan tread the line of likability, but Hewson and Jogia aren’t afraid to dig
into their characters faults and insecurities. MacDowell offers some of her
better work in recent memory with a part that deserved more far more screen time,
while Linklater’s Noah provides a lecherous foil to Franny and Dan’s shaky
romance, but also an ominous reminder of what someone in an unhappy
relationship can become.
Paper Year
balances cynicism and sobriety as Addelman shows a firm grasp for directionless
millennials who desperately need something to validate their existence. It has
hard to feel like an adult while doing side gig shuffles to pay the bills, so
Franny and Dan’s impulsive vow plays like a fair one as they try their
darnedest to make the most of poor life choices. Their paper year is mean and
messy as the strains of adulthood and responsibility hit them hard. They yell,
fight, and bring out the worst in each other. They rented The Notebook but got Who’s
Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. The latter’s the better film, anyways, and, like
Paper Year, far more genuine.
Paper Year opens in Toronto on June 22.
