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The new film Away We Go, directed by Sam Mendes and with a script by local literary it-couple Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida, received a gut-punch of a review by A.O. Scott in today's NYT that sounds suspiciously like an indictment of the attitude -- nay, "smug self-regard" -- of the writers themselves. The movie stars Maya Rudolph and John Krasinski as expectant parents traveling around to visit friends and relatives in an effort to choose a place to raise their child, and inevitably passing judgment on each. Scott writes, "even though they express themselves with a measure of diffidence, it's clear that [the couple is] acutely, at times painfully, aware of their special status as uniquely sensitive, caring, smart and cool beings on a planet full of cretins and failures." Scott doesn't exempt director Mendes from criticism, saying, "To observe that they inhabit no recognizable American social reality is only to say that this is a film by Sam Mendes, a literary tourist from Britain who has missed the point every time he has crossed the ocean."
We'll say that we've always respected Eggers' and Vida's work, on and off the page. And perhaps it's the unique struggle of all San Franciscans to remain self-aware and humble -- to accept how outside the larger culture we exist and not to maintain too much of a sense of superiority in the face of America with a capital A. But we digress, and Away We Go isn't a movie about San Franciscans so much as it is about a couple that might just "glow with a modesty" not unlike Eggers' and Vida's own. As A.O. Scott glibly sums up, he doesn't hate the film. "But don't be fooled. This movie does not like you."
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oh, so it's about san franciscans.
And perhaps it's the unique struggle of all San Franciscans to remain self-aware and humble -- to accept how outside the larger culture we exist and not to maintain too much of a sense of superiority in the face of America with a capital A.
Maybe it's because I ended up here in my 30s and married, and had been happy in the other cities/places I've lived in, but I've never really understood this attitude.
I really love SF/California--it's a beautiful region, there's a lot going on, and yeah, a lot of people here seem to share much of my worldview, moreso than, say, rural Alabama or Kansas, perhaps--but this city isn't nearly as "superior" to "America with a capital A"--which is a big, complicated place, much more complicated than many here give it credit for--as so many here seem to think. So there's not much "struggle" on my part, at least.
(I know: cue all the people telling me to "go back to where I came from"...)
Anyway, I eat these kinda talky annoying movies up with a spoon, and I love Rudolph, so I'll probably end up seeing it at some point despite Scott.
There's also a rather dismal review for this movie on Salon.com by Stephanie Zacharek. "Written by the husband-and-wife team Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida -- is, at worst, an exploration of self-absorption that is itself too self-absorbed to be either entertaining or enlightening."
She goes on to write that the screenwriters "are trying to map a certain kind of contemporary listlessness" and "the problem with that particular angle of "Away We Go" is that it's the sort of so-called trauma that ought to be accompanied by the world's tiniest violin."
I'm not a fan of Eggers' work. But I kind of want to see this movie now just to see if it reminds me of the people around me, or myself.
AO Scott and Stephanie Zacharek's reviews pretty much sum up my opinion of all Eggers' work. Can't say I'm surprised.
Agreed with everyone above. None of this is any different from any of Egger's standard protagonists. And I actually like Eggers. I'm excited to see this film.
joel, really, honestly, no offense but your comment is hilarious; it exudes San Francisco, to me. (but i am wicked man)
although you are able to employ the use of html style tags to highlight a sentence, you are unable to see that it drips with irony. And then you proceed to blithely expound (with plenty of personal anecdotes) on how it is even difficult for you to understand (that notion which you took to be serious) because you are so enlightened that your brain can't even begin to think in such a vulgar manner.
but, who's to say, that woody allen's depiction of new yorkers is any different in what scott identifies as being his pet peeve? funny is funny. (not tragedy plus time)
i agree, i saw the preview and i want to see it.
Well, maybe so. I guess I was just saying that I don't really buy into the idea that it's a struggle to accept we lie largely outside the culture of "America" because I don't believe it so, and in turn it follows that I don't spend a lot of time looking down on places outside our 49 square miles.
But yeah, it wouldn't be the first or last time I've blathered.
right on, man. i agree with you and really didn't want to lampoon you personally, just thought that was kinda funny.
also,it's really fun to talk to people who you know were born and grew up in San Francisco and be like "yeah, you know what i'm talking about, you're from Jersey." haha. so quickly and with so much force will you be reminded of the exact location of that person's upbringing.
but yeah, what makes egger's self absorbed and allen introspective?
Weird, most everyone I've met/know who was born and raised here is usually pretty "salt of the Earth" (whatever that means). The whole "smug San Franciscan" thing seems to emanate most from people who transplanted here.
Maybe that's just me though.
Anyway.
Hell, we look down on places even within our 49 square miles. When's the last time you voluntarily went anywhere in the entire Southern part of town? How often do you consider the Outer Richmond to be an excellent and wonderful place to live?
Once you head past 10th Avenue or so or go further South than Cesar Chavez you're basically off the map and suddenly in the unacknowledged part of town. We don't go there, we don't talk about it, and we'd never, ever consider living there. It might as well be Oakland (let's not even start on Oakland). Sure, some of this is due to terrible transit and the inability to actually get to any of these places or to places across the bay easily, but that's not entirely it. They're spots that we've conceded and can't be bothered to care about. Maybe a future wave of gentrification will make them trendier and they'll start to get noticed, but I doubt that will be coming any time soon.
There's a lot to dislike and ignore even within our own dense little city.
If I was half as talented as Dave Eggers, I would be a total asshat, so I credit him for only being marginally self-absorbed.
I'm not surprised they would receive this type of reaction, its the same one they've been getting for all of their ventures either alone or separately (That memoir, the believer's into essay, etc...)
But this isn't really about SF per se, its more about coastal elites / a certain class consciousness that is demeaned and parodied by the Right, and personified by certain 'middle-minded' lefties.
But they are talented. And I
That line about Sam Mendes is so true, btw and needed to be said ever since I was forced to watch trash float around for two minutes and be told it was art.
Thank you AO Scott. Thank you.
Yeah, people from Vermont to Michigan (Ann Arbor?) in the comments of Scott's review mentioned that they recognized these people.
I take one look at the still in the post above, and I think, "caricature of San Francisco liberals." Chardonnay? Long hair that embraces the natural wave? Weird patterns on clothing? Random antique-ey furniture and a few fine china objects?
Why do reviewers always take movies seriously? Sometimes movies aren't made for the masses, they're made for people who like to watch movies at the Roxie or Balboa and occasionally like to laugh at themselves.
I love to read your writing and take on the arts and entertainment. Im a big fan or Jay's
Really, “Away We Go” is about the flight from adulthood, from engagement, from responsibility, even as it cleverly disguises itself as a search for all those things. But the dream of being left alone in a world of your own making, far from anything sad or icky or difficult, is a child’s fantasy. Not an unattractive or uncommon one, it must be said, and for that reason it is tempting to follow Burt and Verona into the precious, hermetic paradise that awaits them at the end of the road. You know they will be happy there. But you should also understand that you are not welcome.
Wow. It's like the story of Valencia Street brought to the big screen. I think the entire SF Planning Commission should see this film.
Yeah, I was reading the AV Club interview with director and was half-interested in flick, then when I figured out Eggers wrote I was like, thanks but no thanks.
Eggers should have done a foreward, a la Heartbreaking Work, wherein he tells you which parts to skip because they suck so much.