Heller is two for two in the archives with this and her debut from 2015- The Diary of a Teenage Girl – she’s not an overly strong director- but these are smart (and a little depressing) films—she creates an atmosphere for San Fran in Diary and definitely has a feel for 1990’s NYC here
It’s a acting and writing film- it’s Melissa McCarthy’s best work- and it’s Richard E. Grant’s best since Withnail in 1987- they are both stunning here
Jazz score, musty– seedy bars (the bar Julius is a great character in the film), bad apartments, frumpy look from McCarthy’s Lee Israel- love it all
The character is built—piece by piece over the period of the film- it’s a complex part/character
The final face-off in the bar with Grant is a magnificent scene
viewing 2.0 in 2019
It occurred to me that McCarthy’s Lee Israel– a great performance/character is sort of the female Paul Giamatti– it’s so easy to picture him in a male version of this role (or her vice versa with some of Giamatti’s best work say in American Splendor or something)– a tale of woes- the cat, the flies in the house, the lost job, no friends
such clear chemistry with Richard Grant and Melissa McCarthy
lines like “no self-respecting writer would be drinking sherry”- so good- haha and I love Grant’s “Crime of fashion” line.
the formal element doesn’t wallop you but there’s a nice shot of a bridge in winter (the bulk of the film) and the same in the spring to show her change in the end
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