New York Lately

Gary King’s feature film debut is a unique exploration into the drama of interpersonal relationships and their various stages. With New York Lately, King has created a charming piece of cinema that is as tantalizing as it is engaging in its visual and emotional prowess. Accessible dialogue and skilled acting by relative newcomers, depict a culturally and behaviorally varied group of thirty-somethings who allow the revelations of life’s complications to emerge through missteps, risks taken and personal reflection. The narrative rings as true and believable as anything one would overhear on poker night or at a ladies night out. Still, it manages to push the boundary of intrigue, melodrama and to some extent, even adventure. Combining the use of multi-layered prose and interconnecting plot lines with the visual details of the film, King finds a distinct way of examining the more complicated components of typical emotional situations, reminding us what courage under fire really means. Proudly wearing its influences on its sleeve, New York Lately lashes together the more subtle visuals of Almodóvar, the smoothly intense styles of Wong Kar-Wai and the thematic tones of Paul Thomas Anderson. The devil is in the details here and a first time film maker putting these details exactly where and how they belong with acuity and precision, is step one in the making of a master craftsman. —Andrew James (Row Three)