[rating=7.00]
There’s a lot going on in director Andrew Wagner’s Breakable You. The story focuses around an upper-class NYC family, which includes patriarch Adam (Tony Shalhoub), his ex-wife Eleanor (Holly Hunter), their daughter, Maud (Cristin Milioti), and Adam’s brother, Paul (Alfred Molina). Their stories all intersect throughout the film, and while putting their individual problems front-and-center, never quite manages to detangle them — not that it needs to.
Adam is a frustrated playwright who fears his best days are behind him, until he finds an old unproduced script by his recently-deceased friend. He re-writes it to make it his own, and finds himself once again being the toast of the theater community. Eleanor is a therapist who’s wrestling with her own issues, including her ex-husband’s new relationship. Maud is a graduate student who’s frustrated with her thesis, while plagued with having an affair with her married professor and struggling to make a new relationship work with the emotionally unavailable Samir (Omar Metwally). Finally, Paul has recently taken up a relationship with Eleanor, his brother’s ex-wife.
Needless to say, there’s a lot going on here, but much like life itself, no one issue dominates the film. Still, Breakable You manages to juggle their onscreen time without ever feeling overstuffed, and brings out the humanity of an upper-class NYC family.
In doing that, it never seems to pass judgment on these characters or their decisions, narratively speaking. Nor does it excuse them, instead opting to give viewers a fly-on-the-wall look into their lives. Keeping with that decision, these intersecting stories are never given any concrete resolutions, but it’s almost as if doing so could be seen as a disservice to the story.
Much like in real-life, there are always complicated, sometimes selfish, reasons for doing the things, and those decisions are rarely — if ever — truly resolved. Add to that the fact that we don’t have the benefit of credits that roll. (Unless that happens on our deathbed. Like a film nerds’ version of life flashing before our eyes).
Still, the nature of the story seems make it easier to relate to these characters, warts and all. The fact that they’re played by an ensemble of top-tier actors certainly doesn’t hurt, either.
If you’re looking for a concise story that bookends these characters’ lives, Breakable You isn’t the film for you. But if you appreciate unfiltered, slice-of-life stories where you watch characters make good decisions along with the bad without being praised or condemned for them, you’ll find yourself open to a unique and thoughtful viewing experience.
Breakable You is now available on VOD. See an exclusive clip below.
