New York Lately

• Directed By: Gary King
• Written By: Gary King
• Country: USA
• Released: 2008
• Running Time: 92 minutes
• Links: Official Site
• Drama, Reviews

As a rule, I tend to find that the films I get most out of are the films that are ultimately about people. All of the technical proficiency in the world is wasted if I can’t bring myself to care about the characters and, on this point, New York Lately scores very highly indeed. The film is very much about ordinary people and the lives they lead, specifically, six New Yorkers and their loosely interconnected stories.

Jared (Jared Asato) is a corporate everyman. He’s worked his way up through the ranks to achieve a well-paid and secure position but now finds himself wondering whether this is all that he really wants out of life. and, more to the point, whether what’s right for the company is right for him. His friend, Ringo (John Weisenburger) claims to have all of the answers but as the film progresses it emerges that Ringo’s life is not the perfect existence he claims for himself.

Outside of work, Jared encounters Truly (Susan Cagle), a barista and aspiring singer-songwriter who is trying – and largely managing, in a way that Jared isn’t – to balance her job and her aspirations along with her friendships both old and new. Among these friendships is Veronica (Jenn Dees) who is also seeking something more out of life – in her case an acting career. Although Veronica is managing to find a succession of small roles for herself, she is constantly looking out for her big break. When it arrives, however, she is confronted by the fact that the cost may be higher than she is willing to bear.

Mark (Mark DiConzo) is a voice-over performer who has recently broken up with his girlfriend, Andrea (Molly Ryman) and who is thoroughly failing to move on with his life. Stuck in a vicious circle of moping and loneliness, his obsessing over what he has lost has reached the point where it is affecting his work, his social life and stunting his every encounter.

And finally, there is Elliot (Jeremy Koerner) an author whose best-seller days are behind him and who suspects his wife of cheating on him. He hires a private detective (Vanessa Streiff) to collect the evidence he needs but ultimately discovers more about himself than about his wife.

As is often – and probably inevitably – the case with a film that weaves together multiple plot threads, it does take a bit of time to get a handle on the characters. Once you do start to understand what is going on, however, the strength of the scriptwriting really shines through. All of the characters are well drawn, fully rounded and largely likeable individuals facing dilemmas that the vast majority of us will find familiar.

The strength of the cast also deserves a mention here. Director, Gary King has pulled together a group of actors that not only manage to put in a set of believable and natural performances but also manage to bring out the best in each other. As ensemble films go, this really is one of the most effective I have seen in a very long time.

The looseness of the connections between both the characters and the stories also works well by allowing the the stories to play out naturally without attempting to force them into any sort of artificially neat conclusion.

This is not to say that the various stories are completely unrelated. Common themes do run through all of them of hopes, dreams and disappointments and of love, friendship and betrayal and, ultimately, redemption. I never thought that watching relationships fail could be so heart-warming.