[yasr_overall_rating]
When Emily, a librarian-to-be, is assigned to tutor Mateo, a struggling undergrad, in American Lit, they do not get along; but when the discussion turns from classics to confessions, they learn something that could change their lives forever.
Emily (Nicole Hayden, “Mad Men,” “Grey’s Anatomy”) is about to get married and become a librarian – which defines her perfectly as almost an angel but not really (luckily). She agrees to tutor a college undergrad, Mateo (Walter Perez, “The Avengers”), in American Lit. He is also initially portrayed as an embodiment of a Latino stereotype, but seems to offer much more than that. They make a deal to meet three times a week at the park bench. Hence, what starts as an abstruse disaster (Have you read Ezra Pound? Get out!) gradually gets smoothed with heartening conversations, beautiful fairy-tales, Mexican food, dance, and…something else.
“The Park Bench” is a light and simple movie. Though the lack of a big budget and all the dialectical materialism discussions are strikingly obvious to a worldly film-viewer, and might render them reluctant to go on watching, in 10 minutes the loving and rather crafty hand of filmmaker Ann LeSchander convinces you to stay with her and go for the entire journey. She somehow manages to find so many angles filming just one bench and two people – not only to keep the audience bewildered, but making her choices delicately artful yet precise and serving the dramatic purposes. Like Georges Melies once discovered an incredible cinematic power of nature shots, LeSchander’s shoots shaking fragile leaves, a background couple holding colorful umbrellas or even just an empty bench with a “wet paint” sign, all of which set the mood and provide us time and an opportunity to care. One may even take the movie as a tutorial for greedy skeptics complaining on lack of resources. Here is a bench – make it watchable for an hour. A book-like narrative structure, separated into chapters, along with the naive animated segments, narrated with sincerity by Emily and Mateo, as well as the filmed little reconstructions of their childhood, are charmingly made and have a freshness and purity – something we might miss so much in our everyday lives and, most importantly, relationships.
There is no mind-blowing cinematic discovery or something marvelously new about this movie. However, it is not a bad thing. At the end of the day there are only seven main plots and 36 dramatic situations offered to us through the whole history. Two people from completely different worlds in indisputable circumstances (feels like a marriage commitment is a pretty formidable one) hate each other at the first sight and slowly move into insuperable affair. What makes it interesting and unique is how a couple does that. Some get trapped in amnesia (“Overboard”), some get black out drunk and married (“What Happens in Vegas”), some people bet (“She’s All That!”) and some get tutors.
Director Ann LeSchander builds her characters effortlessly, thoroughly and gently explores their nature, backgrounds and flaws. She is like a female version of a neurotic Woody Allen in the relatively recent “Vicky Christina Barcelona” and “To Rome With Love;” or like a cat, tapping fresh river ice before stepping on it; or like a chick, peaking its fascinated eyes into a big world, deciding when to go on its own and try what it’s learned from the external world, in this particular case – from literature and film masterpieces. And when the fear is gone, a librarian-to-be-girl suddenly starts to follow her heart and steals the forbidden kiss. Isn’t it the boldness we want to evoke in ourselves? Despite the fact that both Emily and Mateo are equally important, Emily is the heroine going through the bigger transition and looking more well-rounded than the guy, presumably because the director knows what the real life experience to this kind of girl looks like. Together Ann and Nicole endow their Emily with fluid, cute and sincere manners while Mateo stays a little stiff and underdone. What kind of guy would never stand up to say bye to a hot girl he just passionately kissed? Or would never stand up greeting any girl? Nonetheless, in his biggest film – “The Avengers” – Walter Perez plays a young shield pilot – a profession which mostly requires people to be good at…sitting. If that’s the case then casting directors for both movies made the right choice.
In select theaters August 21st
