American independent filmmaker Joe Swanberg's 2007 feature Hannah Takes the Stairs concerns Hannah (Greta Gerwig), a recent college graduate who spends one long, unsatisfying summer in the Windy City attempting to achieve romantic fulfillment in a seemingly endless series of relationships. Drifting in and out of infatuation, but never quite reaching satisfaction, Hannah begins to pose an emotional threat to herself and those around her. The picture co-stars filmmakers Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha
Ha) and Todd Rohal (The Guatemalan Handshake) as well as screenwriter Kent Osborne (The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie). Gerwig co-authored the script with Osborne and Swanberg. ~ Nathan Southern, Rovi
Perfectly encapsulates the slow-motion, frustrated feeling of early adulthood, when longing and inchoate desire easily outnumber actual transformative events and achievements.
Hannah is charmingly self-absorbed without the extenuating circumstance of self-knowledge. Above all, she's young. The movie forgives her for that and, with occasional misgivings, so do we.
Less dazed and confused than mumbling and mundane, this drama focuses on social awkwardness and twentysomething blues. Skipping aimlessly from scene to scene it offers little observations and rewards low expectations.
There's only so much twentysomething navel-gazing one can listen to before wanting to slap some sense - and some fully formed sentences - into them all.
There is something teeth-grindingly cutesy about the whole thing, reaching epic levels of dippiness in the, ahem, nude trumpet-playing scenes. That makes it sound interesting, come to think of it, and perhaps it is.
The film meanders along in conversational style, encouraging improvisational realism but also the thought that maybe these middle-class characters, not quite slackers, are less interesting than they, or the director, think they are.
Watchable independent drama from the mumblecore crowd, though it's not quite sharp enough, funny enough or insightful enough to really get off the ground and the characters are occasionally irritating.
Adlibbing should be left to Catskills comics, TV talk show hosts, and members of Second City, and that's about it. Nowhere in this numbing 80 minutes of moroseness does anyone say anything remotely reasonable or realistic.
Swanberg can be playful behind the camera -- he has a taste for Godardian jump cuts -- and his sense of color is crisp. Gerwig, his millennial Jean Seberg, is no pixie; her captivating ordinariness helps hold the movie together.
This was a painfully awkward movie. It felt very true and in real time so as a result was slow. hannah reminded me of ellen Degeneres. there weren't any real surprises in this film or any incredible laughable moments. The only thing missing from this film was Hannah expressing her true feelings toward her room mate.
The relationship between her and her roomate was the only one left unexplored.
No quotes approved yet for Hannah Takes the Stairs. Logged in users can submit quotes.
Submit a Quote from 'Hannah Takes the Stairs'
A quote can be a single line from one character or a memorable dialog between several characters. Please make your quotes accurate. Quotes will be submitted for approval by the RT staff.
Example:
Luke: Alright. I'll give it a try. Yoda: No. Try not. Do or do not. There is no try.
62%
——
97%
Top Critic
