Movie Review: Person to Person
“Person to Person” is set in New York, depicting a retro nostalgia without denoting any particular era. Created by Dustin Guy Defa, the film follows a handful of characters through the events of their day and showcases the phenomenon of separate lives connecting.
A budding freelance journalist Claire and her new supervisor Phil (“Broad City” star Abbi Jacobsen and Michael Cera) go on their first assignment together, record collector Benny (Bene Coopersmith) hunts for a rare vinyl, and two high school girls (Tavi Genvinson and Olivia Luccardi) explore their friendship and sexuality. Benny’s roommate Ray (George Semple III) gets what he deserves for putting naked photos of his ex-girlfriend online, and a widow (Michaela Watkins) struggles with two detectives as they try to determine whether her husband’s death was a suicide or murder. Some stories gracefully touch one another and, in their singularity, pay homage to the “little people of the Big Apple” films that were popular in the late 1960’s.
Although this charming “day in the life” film comes to some sort of resolution, it still feels relatively slow and jumbled. It features well-developed characters and often comedic dialogue, but the truly special thing about “Person to Person” was that it was filmed beautifully in 16 mm. Watching it gifts the viewer with the revelatory sensation that every person has a story — one that is often more complex than we realize.
@kennamalan