Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Jason Schwartzman, Jonathan Pryce, Elisabeth Moss, Krysten Ritter, Joséphine de La Baume, Jess Weixler, Dree Hemingway, Keith Poulson, Kate Lyn Sheil, Yusef Bulos, Maïté Alina, Lee Wilkof, Eric Bogosian.
It is said that writing is the closest occupation to resemble death that is possible. The ability to sit at a type writer and keep perfectly still as the brain searches for the tired muse for hours is enough to drive the sane to such introspection that their world becomes one that could be seen out of step with the rest of humanity.
Authors are supposed to be known for their grasp on the human condition, to take the smallest detail from a casual conversation and weave it into something momentous, yet the premise of Listen Up Philip is that of an author so wrapped up in his own physicality that listening is not really part of the equation, the author is a sponge, mentally and physically, only squeezing himself dry eventually to not become overburdened with the sensitivity of others and their emotional needs.
Jason Schwartzman gives the performance perhaps of his entire career so far as the unlikeable but genius like Philip Lewis Friedman. His whole demeanour during the film is presented as one caught in a trap of never ending neglect and sadistic torment, punctuated by the release of tension in the form of severe linguistic barbarity aimed with precision that he grows to loathe.
The only relationship he has that has any merit of respect is with fellow author Ike Zimmerman, a bitter and resentful man, whose own idealism and fortitude has been replaced with disdain and angry but sensitively delivered, platitudes. Jason Schwartzman reflects this relationship between author and humanity by giving Jonathan Pryce just as much room to breathe in his own despair as Ike Zimmerman. It is a combination that really gets to the loneliness that writers steeped in their own misgivings and for whom the wood is not just a bunch a trees, it is a never ending forest, filled with ginger bread houses, several witches and the howling of the insincere.
With Dree Hemingway giving an excellent, if short performance as Emily, the whole ethos of writing, the very act of denial of happiness as one delves into the sheets of other’s minds is to be seen. Dree Hemmingway, the granddaughter of the American Godfather’s of 20th Century literature and allusion, would surely have seen all the signs that novel anti-hero Philip Lewis Friedman displayed, anger, rejection of all that came before him and the sincerity of anger at the world they have created.
Listen Up Philip is a film of great pathos and understanding and yet, perhaps quite rightly, not many will or even take the time to understand their own indifference and that is the only logical position to take. Logic though never sits well in the heart of the writer, failed or successful, the only true emotion is doubt and that is one that all can understand.
A film that does deliver on a very high level, it pulls you in without realising, and the seemingly distracting pace, film technique and grainy quality are there to serve as a reminder that even in the most perfect book, flaws are to be found by those who feel the need to scrutinise every line. Unforgiving, literally barbaric and enjoyable, a writer’s dream and nightmare all rolled into one.
Ian D. Hall