Okay, the first movie in 2019 I want to recommend is, Private Life starting Paul Giamatti and Kathryn Hahn. It’s written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, who brought us The Savages. I loved The Savages (Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman star) which is about a brother-sister relationship and putting their father into an old age home. Linney played a playwright and Hoffman a writer. It seems that Tamara Jenkins likes writers and playwrights. In Private Life, Giamatti is the playwright and Hahn is the writer, not brother-sister, but a husband and wife who are trying to get pregnant, in their late forties.
As someone who spent close to three years travelling down the fertility highway with my wife, and having written my own comedic book about it (The Cube People – shameless plug) I know the material well and Private Life is authentic, not only in its mechanics, but the in how the characters behave, feel, and react. Like, The Savages, Tamara Jenkins has written real people with candid dialogue. And it’s funny. Not roll-on-the-ground funny, but there is an honesty to the characters and what they say, and it will put a smile on your face. It's also heartbreakingly sad.
I love Paul Giamatti and Sideways is one of my all-time favourite films. He is as good in this film as any of his best work (Sideways, American Splendor, or Barney's Version).
Anyone who has been down the fertility highway will know this material, but even if you don’t, I think Private Life is worth the trip. Catch it on Netflix.
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