SHE CAME TO ME – Review by Leslie Combemale
She Came to Me isn’t likely to fit in the neat boxes critics prefer and I bet they’ll considered too hipster to be real, but the audacious, bizarre, inconceivable dramedy will prove to be a favorite to quirky indie fans. There’s care and consideration in every aspect of the production, from the awards-heavy cast, to the careful color stories in the production design, to the embarrassment of riches offered up in the score and music. Writer/director Rebecca Miller gives her characters real issues, often to the point of mental illness, and they are issues that build interactions and relationships that offer less clearcut hero/villain scenarios, thereby making them worlds more interesting. She collaborated with her cast in developing their roles, and it shows in the commitment the performers give to their performances. The result is a sort of screwball comedy meets magical realism, with a lot of heart thrown in.
Peter Dinklage plays Steven, an opera composer with creative block who routinely drowns in the minutiae of workshopping and rehearsal. His wife Patricia is his former therapist, and Steven is perfectly fine with her controlling his days, parsing out vitamins, and keeping the house as immaculate as her galloping OCD allows. When Steven goes for a walk to try to clear his head and work up some ideas and ends up in a dive bar, he happens on tub boat captain Katrina (Marisa Tomei), who inadvertently becomes his muse. At the same time, Patricia’s bi-racial 18 year old son Julian (Evan Ellison) is having a peak first love experience with 16-year old Tereza (Harlow Jane). Both kids are brilliant and inspired students of school and life. Tereza’s parents Magdalena (Joanna Kulig) and Trey (Brian d’Arcy James) have very different opinions about their daughter’s romance, with one revealing their inner racist. Since Tereza’s mom happens to be Patricia’s housekeeper, it’s only a matter of time until all the characters and their stories begin to converge, for better or worse.
It’s not like these stories and how they intersect make real sense when you examine them closely, but that’s entirely beside the point. It’s almost Shakespearean how they bumble into each other or push each other in various emotional directions. Miller makes sure each character is and stays anchored in their own truth, one that is as complicated as real life, as she throws them together. There’s no clear protagonist, in that neither Steven nor any of the others in this joint are making great choices. Is She Came to Me always cohesive? No. Still, at the heart of the story is the transformational power of love in all its forms, and the plot weaves everything together in such a sweet yet bizarre way, it’s really hard not to find the whole enterprise anything but cathartic.
She Came To Me, the name of the film, is based on the name of the first of two operas featured in the film, which is called She Came to Me (Tugboat Opera). Both operas and the score are written by award-winning composer and musician Bryce Dessner of The Nationals, who hired famed Canadian classical pianist Katia Labèque as soloist to perform for the film. There’s also a song at the end credits that many will think, “Wait. I know that voice.” Yeah, you do. It’s Bruce Springsteen. Miller forward him a copy of the nearly finished film and he enjoyed it so much he delivered the song Addicted to Romance in only a few days.
Rebecca Miller has been known as a filmmaker that splits critical consensus, because she has a very clear vision, and not everyone’s going to dig it. I’d also argue that character-driven stories, especially those from female filmmakers, aren’t lauded in the same way those released by male “auteurs” are. Here’s hoping there will be enough people who appreciate her fearless take on comedy, so that she can continue to create. She certainly gets great performances out of her cast and crew.
3 1/2 out of 5 stars.
