Isen Robbins

Citing both John Cassavetes and Mike Leigh as influences, Lawrence Michael Levine’s film is thus naturally both a dramatic and structural experiment. Driven by an expansive cast of a who’s-who of New York’s independent filmmaking talent, Gabi on the Roof in July is unpredictable, alive, and true.

Delightfully playful, this postmodern portrait explores an offbeat life of invention by rejecting conventional biopic form. With stylistic whimsies ranging from omniscient narration to an anachronistic synthpop performance, Michael Almereyda’s rich meditation on legacy is positively electric.