This Sad Young Literary Man is Really Just A Jerk

If ever there was a movie for every writing major at Lang (or any liberal arts college, for that matter) “Listen Up Philip” is it. Drawing directly from literary giants like William Gaddis and Philip Roth, this film reveres the old writing world of New York while at the same time poking fun at anyone trying to break into the new book scene. Director and screenwriter Alex Ross Perry has provided a great cast with dialogue that seethes with highbrow humor, brutal truths and biting insults that make for stellar performances by all that are involved. Perfectly capturing the neuroses and relationship troubles that come with the writing life, “Listen Up Philip” doesn’t mean to inflate the novelist’s ego more than pop-culture already has, but instead it’s trying to highlight the dedication it takes to make true art even if you have to sabotage your whole life to do it.

Philip Lewis Friedman (Jason Schwartzman) is the Philip in the film’s title. After publishing two novels Philip is aware that his writing career is at a turning point. Whether he embraces the literary world full of readings, teaching positions and magazine profiles or instead shuns the whole establishment may define the way he selfishly lives his life. The audience is immediately thrust into Philip’s career anxieties by way of an omniscient narrator voiced by the one and only Eric Bogosian, who acts as a guide for the whole film.

Considering the bridges he hilariously burns at the beginning of the film Philip could be considered a toxic person, but he is surrounded by people who love him. These include his photographer girlfriend Ashley Kane (Elisabeth Moss), admiring yet distant from him and a renowned reclusive writer Ike Zimmerman (Jonathan Pryce), who is so smitten with Philip’s last novel he invites him to his upstate New York cabin to write. This invitation into seclusion is the basis for the film’s plot. Philip takes up on Zimmerman’s offer and begins to systematically dismantle his life. He dumps his girlfriend. He cancels his book tours and all publicity scheduled by his publisher. Philip is done with his old life even though he doesn’t have much of a new one to start.

Here’s where Alex Ross Perry could have gone the predictable route of following Philip as he stoically struggles to write his next follow up work, but instead of doing that he shifts the camera’s focus to the supporting cast. The narrator tells us how Philip’s selfish actions affect Ashley and Zimmerman and how their lives become both better and worse for it. Both of these characters are allotted their own screen time away from Philip. Philip may seem to be the anchor to this movie, but Alex Ross Perry quickly shows how multi-faceted and complex the film’s other characters are.

It’s a stylistic move like this that set “Listen Up Philip” apart from your standard independent cinema. Add cinematographer Sean Price Williams’ handheld style shot on 16 millimeter film and simultaneously ingenious and funny book designs by Teddy Blank with the Eric Bogosian narration and the result is movie that is both respectful to the New York book world as it is slyly making fun of it. Paying tribute to other filmmakers like Wes Anderson (the voiceover is a straight lift from Alec Baldwin in the Royal Tenenbaums) and Woody Allen (New York culturati revealed through comedy), Alex Ross Perry has created a film that a lot of struggling writers are probably getting jealous over right now.

Rating: [Go See This Now] It’s been a long time since the movies have offered us such a honest portrait of what it takes to be a writer. The fact that it’s hilarious is just an added bonus.
Now Playing at IFC Center in the West Village and the Film Society of Lincoln Center. Take note of IFC’s Friday’s evening showtimes where special appearances by director Alex Ross Perry and star Jason Schwartzman are scheduled for Q&A’s and introductions.