In Middle Life, the latest feature from Canadian writer-director-editor Pavan Moondi, the story beats and character archetypes never stray far from the generic conventions of the modern romcom. There’s a measured balance of witty dialogue and understated drama, a searching and spunky female protagonist, and two potential male romantic partners who represent wildly different paths for her future. But unlike higher profile, less polished fare that opened on thousands of multiplex screens, Middle Life distinguishes itself by virtue of its informed, conscious embrace of the familiar. Transcending tropes is how the film’s many charms, its subtleties and emotional intelligence and warmth, shine through despite the fact that it’s set in Toronto.
Almost as a challenge that Moondi has devised for himself, the movie starts as a hack screenplay would: with a car accident. Ryan, a plumber with an idiopathic bladder issue, has flipped his car while in a rush to piss, nearly killing himself and his father. Andie, a wedding planner with a toddler and podcast-addicted husband, drives by the crash site and calls an ambulance in the nick of time. How can Ryan, when they inevitably run into each other again, repay Andie for saving his and his father’s lives?
By purchasing her a bidet and then gradually derailing her marriage, of course. While firmly in the low-budget indie mode, Middle Life rarely feels insubstantial, unambitious, or cheap in its sight gags or formal play. (See: the quick establishing shot of the socks drying on the radiator after Ryan floods Andie’s bathroom, or the slow fade-in overlay of Andie’s beaming face over a toilet bowl.) Much of this success is attributable to Moondi’s writing, editing, and on-location shooting, especially the Los Angeles scenes that were—unbelievably—actually shot in California. In less than 90 minutes, Moondi novelistically captures the slow-then-sudden passage of time, the contours of life events momentous and almost meaningless, with a storytelling economy that never shortchanges his characters or spoon-feeds his audience. It’s the sum total of these small, deliberate artistic choices that elevates his seemingly modest romcom into an impressive piece of filmmaking in any genre.
Middle Life is screening at Cinema Village in New York City from August 7th-13.
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