In a World...

The film is light and nice. The narration takes its time. Although such problems like generation gap, sexism and family-versus-career questions are raised here, they don’t look sharp and dramatic, but mix with funny (or not) casual everyday moments. There are neither moments of tense rat race, trainings and rehearsals nor loud fights and tears. But also, unfortunately, there’re really few professional voice-over moments, only at the culmination. Some plot lines that at first seemed typical become pretty surprising in a good sense. For example, the father’s young blond girlfriend rather successively (not without a little blackmail, ha-ha) tries to make sure his parental feelings towards his daughter are alive again. It’s funny to observe how the sort of “male solidarity” which takes place when the father supports some stupid guy instead of his own daughter breaks by the end of the film, while the female solidarity, vice versa, grows stronger. And the words that she got the place because she’s a woman but not for other reasons are remarkable. So, this movie is not about the girl who outperformed all the contestants, it’s more about different relationships. And yeah, the father is a jerk, he decides to take part in the competition only after he hears that his daughter is there and she actually can surpass him. But when I write it now I feel even more resentment, in the movie it maybe was smoothed by some joke or a charming situation. In short, the film left a good impression, but I don’t think I’ll watch it again.

Lake Bell hasn't exactly found a true voice in cinema yet, but her writing/directing debut is a rather adorable piece of indie cinema, and the budget certainly reflects it! This micro budget comedy provides an insight into a field I'm very much interested in: the people whose voices enrich the screen and radio! Bell has some good quips and solid writing to her credit, but her golden voiced, sleazy father played by Fred Melamed steals an abundance of scenes!