Daddy Longlegs is a nice little drama about a loser, Lenny, living in New York City. After a divorce, he has lost custody of his two young sons (both under 10-years old) and only sees them once in awhile. He's a projectionist in a movie theater in New York and lives in a tiny, filthy apartment somewhere on the West Side. He loves his kids immensely and relishes the time he gets to spend with them. He's a good man and a good, loving father, but he can't get his life in order and screws things up when trying to do right by his kids.
The movie is totally small and has a wonderful independent feeling, looking totally homemade and rough throughout. This is actually a really nice thing, as it feels much more honest that lots of other stuff that might come out with a similar storyline. (I can just imagine a big Hollywood movie, along the lines of Mr. Mom, about a can't-do-right dad who gets into silly quagmires while spending time with his kids. Kevin James would be in the movie. Vomit.)
The real heart and soul of the film is Ronald Bronstein who beautifully plays Lenny. He comes off as a freak, but also a good guy you could see being a friend. As he constantly messes things up he realizes it right away and feels guilty about each instance immediately. He responds wonderfully and naturally to the two boys (Frey and Sage Renaldo) and seems to really honestly like and get along with them.
There is an overall grittiness to the film that I really appreciate. Something about the film stock and the dark, yellowish-brown color of the whole picture makes it look like a film from the 1980s (maybe this is a play on Mr. Mom, I don't know - it could be).
By far the most frustrating thing for me as a New York movie-goer and movie theater patron is a sequence where Lenny has to look after his sons and work the projection booth at the same time. The booth seems to be upstairs in a corporate-type building (who knows, some office building - maybe the hall of a mid-town screening room). The cut-away to the kids in the theater watching the movie is in the Walter Reade theater at Lincoln Center. Finally when the kids go outside and create craziness on the sidewalk, they're in front of the Cinema Village theater. This is really not a big issue, but is frustrating for an anal-retentive location-obsessed person like myself.
But this is the only real "problem" with the movie. It's a lovely little piece and nice to see a non-mumblecore independent film being made today (outside the normal means of production). It's very sweet and upbeat, and brothers Ben and Josh Safdie (who co-wrote and co-directed it) deserve a ton of credit for making such a solid, simple movie.
Stars: 3 of 4
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