The unexpected appeal of this seeming non-story is cumulative; what begins as a maddening portrait of a microcosm of liberal, well-educated white kids (with the occasional ethnic friend) steadily grows on you.
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07/29/07
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Hannah Takes the Stairs (2007)
58
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:45
Fresh:26
Rotten:19
Average Rating:5.8/10
Consensus: Although not terribly focused, Hannah Takes the Stairs contains refreshing realism.
Theatrical Release:Aug 22, 2007 Limited
Synopsis: Over the course of one hot post-graduate summer, Hannah (Greta Gerwig), falls precariously in and out of love. A breaker of hearts and chronically dissatisfied she finds herself drifting away from... [More]
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Reviews for Hannah Takes the Stairs
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.
10/26/07
Swanberg is accurately charting the social rituals of the young and inarticulate.
08/25/07
[Director] Joe Swanberg has an uncanny talent for making the randomness of downtime feel as alive as it seems generationally true.
04/26/07
Top CriticHannah 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.
09/07/07
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04/23/09
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.
01/09/09
[Director] Swanberg nails the inane fun of youth.
10/19/07
Chop off a star if you're not up for highly experimental cinema.
10/18/07
Looks like it should be on an Off Off Off Broadway play in the Village...
09/15/07
A low-key and enjoyable film with a cast consisting mostly of other indie filmmakers and writers.
04/04/07
Gerwig's talents might be better displayed in some form of scripted or structured film rather than this erratic warts 'n' all waste of time.
08/21/07
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01/09/09
Smart and engaging, but too many meandering breeze-shooting sequences.
01/09/09
Hannah (Greta Gerwig), the peroxided heroine, leaps from one hookup to the next, but is she searching for passion or just treading water? In the new generational film movement that's been dubbed 'Mumblecore,' it's often hard to tell the difference.
09/05/07
Top CriticGerwig actually gives her insufferable character some verve -- the actress has potential -- but the remainder of the movie is a slice of life that doesn't much show much life.
08/24/07
Each film [director Swanberg] does is a little more of an evolution in style and form and Hannah Takes the Stairs is like watching a natural progression of talent.
03/24/07
This do-it-your effort, shot in HD, would be nothing without hazel-eyed Greta Gerwig as Hannah, Meg Ryan-cute with a tousled Jean Seberg hairdo.
08/21/07
Hannah Takes the Stairs, the latest comedy of mannerisms in the “mumblecore” style, is maddening for 60 of its 83 minutes.
01/09/09
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.
01/09/09
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August 22, 2007:
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August 21, 2007:
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