In She Came to Me, actor Peter Dinklage leads a sparklingly convoluted romantic comedy. He plays a composer who writes an opera about his affair with a tugboat captain portrayed by Marisa Tomei in a comedy from writer/director Rebecca Miller.
There’s a sprightly sort of sweetness and preposterous innocence to this quirky-naive film, something with wit and fun but also ultimately an almost childlike seriousness, like a Woody Allen movie or a screwball but played at two-thirds of the speed and with fewer cynical wisecracks. The excellent cast brings a bubbly sparkle to the screen.
This screwball-tinged story tells the tale of disparate New Yorkers and their search for creative inspiration, spiritual fulfillment, happiness and love. Miller threads the fanciful story with a vein of operatic magic, screwball comedy and a hint of the absurd, alongside more serious dramatic concerns stemming from a threat to the future of a teenage couple in love. It’s a truly modern romantic comedy, a multi-generational love story set against the iconic backdrop of New York.
A composer suffering from creative block finds inspiration after a chance encounter with an unusual woman; a couple of bright teenagers fight to prove to their parents that young love can last forever; and for a successful therapist who seemingly has it all, love arrives in the most unexpected of ways.
Beautifully performed and directed with great charm, unexpected wisdom and sweetness, Tomei is absolutely stunning in this. The set-up could work as farce or tragedy, but improbably, it lightly balances between these extremes.
She Came to Me, rated PG, plays at the Patricia Theatre from November 10 to November 14 at 7 pm, with a matinee Sunday, November 12 at 1:30 pm. Running time is one hour and 42 minutes.
Gary Shilling is executive director of qathet Film Society.
Join the Peak's email list for the top headlines right in your inbox Monday to Friday.
