Starting Out In The Evening PG-13

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Format:  DVD
item number:  LM 20007D
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DVD Details

  • Rated: PG-13
  • Run Time: 1 hours, 36 minutes
  • Video: Color
  • Encoding: Region 1 (USA & Canada)
  • Originally Released: 2008
  • Label: Maple Pictures

Performers, Cast and Crew:

Starring , &
Performer: &
Directed by
Screenwriting by &
Composition by
Produced by , , &
Director of Photography:

Entertainment Reviews:

Certified Fresh87%

TOMATOMETER
Total Count: 100

Upright70%

AUDIENCE SCORE
User Ratings: 3,465
Intelligent, involving and conspicuously adult, STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING is almost shocking in its distinctiveness, its ability to create high drama from an unlikely source.
Los Angeles Times
Nov 23, 2007
Rating: 2.5/4 -- What to do with this light, while it lasts? [Director] Wagner's problem is to find an answer to that question and also to offer some resolution to the conflicts of honesty and compromise the movie portrays. Full Review
Toronto Star
Jan 18, 2008
3.5 stars out of 4 -- Frank Langella's masterful portrayal of a literary lion in the winter of his life makes an indelible impression in STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING....[A] deftly written and riveting chamber piece.
USA Today
Nov 30, 2007
Langella gives a performance that is so layered with mourning wit and experience that, for once, an acting-showcase movie lives up to its promise.
Entertainment Weekly
Nov 30, 2007
For all its sturm and drang, there is an elegiac quality about the film, maybe because fewer and fewer people apparently care very much about writing or writers. Full Review
The Tyee (British Columbia)
Aug 22, 2017
[An] intelligent, careful adaptation of a near-perfect novel by Brian Morton....Instead of nostalgia, STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING offers a clear-eyed elegy for the world.
New York Times
Dec 7, 2007
Rating: 3/4 -- A strong cast and a literate script make for a refreshingly subtle film.
Globe and Mail
Jan 18, 2008

Product Description:

Though he's spent most of his career as a character actor in supporting roles, Frank Langella gives the lead performance of a lifetime in STARTING OUT IN THE EVENING, based on the novel by Brian Morton. Flanked by Lili Taylor and Lauren Ambrose, Langella is the central piece in a film that focuses on its characters. The film begins with aging writer Leonard Schiller (Langella, SUPERMAN RETURNS), a man who feels as obsolete as the typewriter he is pounding away at. Though he has four novels to his credit, he has been working on his fifth for a decade. Enter Heather Wolfe (Ambrose, SIX FEET UNDER), a grad student who plans to write her thesis on Schiller's work. She cajoles the reluctant man into helping her, and they begin a curious friendship. Meanwhile, Schiller's daughter Ariel (Taylor, SIX FEET UNDER) struggles not only with her elderly father, but also with her own desire to have children as she approaches 40. She also grapples with the decision of reconnecting with an ex-boyfriend (Adrian Lester, HUSTLE).

As the fading writer Schiller, Langella doesn't give a bold performance that screams for Oscar's attention. Instead, the actor commands the screen with a quiet presence. Heather's attempts at friendship with Schiller--and eventual seduction--may feel awkward at times within the film, but Ambrose's performance is quite genuine. As always, Taylor is impressive, and it's good to see her get a heftier role. The film's other central character is New York's Upper West Side, a player that should receive top billing. Director Andrew Wagner (THE TALENT GIVEN US) allows the neighborhood to play a central role within his engaging film.

Description by Maple Pictures:

Battling illness and unable to finish a novel that has taken him ten years to write, aging novelist Leonard Schiller is slipping into literary obscurity. Formerly a famous author, Schiller has been all but forgotten by the readers, colleagues and critics that once praised him. But when Heather Wolfe, an ambitious graduate student, convinces Schiller that her thesis could reintroduce his writing to the world, the reclusive writer is forced to confront his past regrets. Frank Langella delivers a career capping performance as a man who must redefine his work and his perceptions in the twilight of his life.

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Product Info

  • UPC: 057373200070
  • Shipping Weight: 0.25/lbs (approx)
  • International Shipping: 1 item

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