Anytime there is a film that takes place in New York I have to watch it because I love the way the city of New York looks on film. Even though I live in New York and I've seen the city in real life, I still get wide eyed when I see it in a movie. Woody Allen is a master at this. He makes New York look so good and it has a whimsical look about it. He has even said that he films New York the way Hollywood sees it. He doesn't like to film it the way Spike Lee or Martin Scorcese would film it in it's real gritty nature. The Upper West side always looks great on film and I believe that's where this next film was mostly shot.
"Adam" is a film directed by Max Mayer and stars Hugh Dancy, Rose Byrne, Frankie Faison, Peter Gallagher, and Amy Irving. The film is about Adam, a man with Asperger's syndrome who develops a relationship with a new female neighbor after the death of his father. He's a lonely man and has trouble connecting with other people because of his condition. This film was interesting to watch because of Hugh Dancy who turns in an amazing performance as Adam. Hugh is quickly becoming one of my favorite actors. To play a role like this is very difficult because you're playing someone with a condition which I always find to be difficult. There's so many different syndromes out there that one would almost assume that you should act the same way for each of them. There were times when I really felt for Adam and his internal struggle. He wanted to be different but he couldn't and it was quite amazing to see him force himself to change throughout the film. Very riveting. Rose Byrne, of course, is very good in this as well. I loved her ever since I saw her in "Wicker Park". She knows how to achieve her characters will and intention. I fell even more in love with here after I saw her in the TV show "Damages", an amazing show with Glenn Close. I did enjoy this movie although at times I felt there were plot points that might've been there for no reason. There was the whole thing going on Peter Gallagher's character that I thought didn't have anything much to do with the movie, but I could be wrong. However, it did charm me quite a bit with it's story of two people coming together in their own strange way.
The cinematography in this was similar to Woody Allen's style which is probably why I loved it so much. New York never looked so beautiful. The last time it looked this good was in the "Sex And The City" movie. Filming in New York makes any film more grand than it is because of the buildings and the scope of the city. The Soundtrack to this film was great too. I love when a filmmaker actually takes the time to choose songs for a film. I think that's one of the most important parts of filmmaking because it can make or break a scene. Another soundtrack that will probably want to get. This film had a pretty average New York palette. It did seem a lot more natural than most films though. They may have used a little altered light, but I would say that there was a lot of natural light used in the outdoors scenes and maybe even some of the indoor scenes as well. Lighting has always been an issue for me, but it's something that I want to master. A film is no good if no one can't see it. A good example of that is the movie "The Relic". That movie was so dark, I don't know if the director meant it to be that way but you can't see what's going on a lot of the time.
I would give this film three and a half stars out of five. It's definitely a nice and charming little independent film to watch. Recommended.
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