PASSING SHIPS (SHE CAME TO ME)
From the mind of writer director Rebecca Miller comes a story about a composer, a psychiatrist and a tugboat captain.
'She Came To Me' is one of those American indie romcoms that pop up from time to time - seemingly gentle but with a little bit more grit than you might expect.
It's one of those indie films that wonderfully thumbs its nose at convention.
Peter Dinklage plays Steven Lauddem, a celebrated opera composer based in Brooklyn who is going through writer's block.
This plunges him into deep depression as he desperately tries to catch sounds from everyday life that might inspire him to pen something great.
Steven is married to Anne Hathaway's Patricia Jessop-Lauddem, a successful psychiatrist who has a needy patient, Chris Gerhard's Carl who is developing a fixation with her, imagining her naked.
Patricia has her own hang ups.
She suffers from OCD and likes nothing better than to clean the house, even though the Lauddems have a Polish cleaner, Joanna Kulig's Magdalena Szyskowski.
Magdalena is in a relationship with Brian d'Arcy James' pompous and controlling court reporter and Civil War re-enactment enthusiast Trey Ruffa.
She also has a daughter, Harlow Jane's Tereza who is dating Patricia's son from a previous marriage, Evan Ellison's Julian.
Amid all this, in a bid to help Steven find inspiration for his next masterpiece, Patricia encourages her husband to take the dog for a walk.
Stopping off at a dockside bar, he encounters Marisa Tomei's tugboat captain Katrina Trento.
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They immediately hit it off and she confesses to Steven that she has a weakness for fleeting, yet really intense romances.
Steven ends up going back to Katrina's tugboat in the docks with his dog.
Overcome by guilt after jumping into bed with her, he is also suddenly filled with creative energy triggered by the sound of a shipping horn.
Cutting off contact with Katrina, Steven goes on to compose an acclaimed opera about a tugboat captain to literally eats men.
Basking in the adulation, Steven is rattled when Katrina turns up at the performance and tries to get him to admit she's his muse.
Meanwhile Patricia has started to develop a fascination with a convent in the Catholic school she used to attend.
However the Lauddems face a major crisis when Magdalena discovers photos of a naked Tereza under her daughter's bed.
Showing them to Trey, he insists on going straight to the police and having Julian prosecuted for statutory rape of a minor after he confronts Tereza about them.
Can Julian avoid going to jail?
Will Steven's dalliance with Katrina come to light?
If it does, will it destroy his marriage to Patricia?
Miller delivers a playful, amiable film but it is also packed with some really good performances.
Very much in the mould of a Noah Baumbach movie, 'She Came To Me' is quirky, often amusing but also sinks its teeth into some potentially serious dramatic developments.
Dinklage is a delight in the lead role - taking the weight of the world on his shoulders as his composer struggles creatively, yet also incredibly self-absorbed.
Hathaway and Tomei are wonderful too as the women in his life.
The former is at her brittle best and always seems on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
When the breakdown actually does come, she executes it with real comic guile.
Tomei is as excellent as always, bringing an air of unpredictability to the role of Katrina.
A dramatic contrast to Patricia, Katrina is everything she's not - chaotic, earthy, dressing in vibrant colours as opposed to the psychiatrist's austere black and white.
Kulig, who audiences may remember from the excellent Polish Oscar nominated drama 'Cold War,' is superb as a mother who wants the best for her daughter but is also trapped in a dysfunctional relationship.
d'Arcy James turns in a fantastic performance as well as her obnoxious, know it all, controlling partner.
Jane, Ellison and Gerhard add great value in their supporting roles.
Unobtrusively directed by Rebecca Miller, the film boasts wonderful operatic scores by Bryce Dessner.
Indeed the film is notable for the way it depicts the process of writing music which recalls Krystof Kiezlowski's 'Three Colours: Blue'.
'She Came To Me' also features an original song 'Addicted to Romance' by Bruce Springsteen.
Overall, Miller's film is a lovely confection.
Modest, quirky and really fun, it makes a great case for indie filmmaking.
It's just a pity it won't be seen by many people in cinemas.
If it finds an audience on streaming services, that will still be an achievement.
Miller's film is 102 minutes well spent.
In fact, it says more in 102 minutes than many of this year's three hour plus movies.
Studios, take note.
('She Came To Me' received ita world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival, was released in US and Canadian cinemas on October 6, 2023 and was made available for streaming in the UK and Ireland on Sky Cinema and NowTV on October 30, 2023)
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