Given Clarke's penchant for keeping her personal life private and the clear boundary between herself and her onstage persona, the initial minutes of the movie are quite refreshing and actually interesting, when she is "herself". But due to the plot any actual reality(or parodying of reality) is quickly abandoned in favor of this somewhat incomprehensible psychological expressionism, that presumably have some metaphorical comment its trying to impart but it is so insubstantial its never clear. Brownstein is also working under so many veneers it's never quite clear what's happening, what her motivation is, or even if we are suppose to see her(or Clarke) as people at all. With all the psuedo-trippy psychological digressions the movie takes when Clarke and Brownstein are in "normal" scenes even that behavior seems just as divorced from reality as the scenes clearly meant to have some kind of magical realism.
There's an interesting idea here and Clarke and Brownstein are wonderful actors and have magnetic presences but regardless if they are playing themselves or versions of themselves those characters have to behave like actual humans(which they don't) or anything else that happens doesn't really matter, it has no stakes. So, although there are some scenes with rich provocative imagery, they are ultimately too thin to grasp onto. Although there are some interesting shots from St. Vincent's concerts the songs are never played in full. Although there is an interesting dynamic with the film-within-a-film the subject and director don't behave believably so any dramatic or comedic result is flattened.
Probably only appealing to Brownstein and St. Vincent super fans.
Currently in theaters and available to rent on most VOD platforms.
Don't See It.
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