D: David Barker; with Nathalie Richard, Daniel Aukin, Sarah Adler.
This vaguely humorous take on somnambulant NYC denizens with nowhere to go but out may put you in mind of early Jim Jarmusch — there’s just not that much going on here, outside of protagonist Anne’s inability to leave her SoHo flat in the wake of a tragic car accident that leaves her minus a limb. Comic touches, like the husband who develops a crush on Anne’s younger sister, flourish in the well-written script, but it’s Austinite Deborah Lewis’ cracklingly sharp black-and-white cinematography that makes this a keeper. Outside of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, I can’t think of a more evocative portrait of NYC angst, though the humor here is drier than a rice cake. Still, Afraid of Everything is a visual tour de force, even if that force appears to be mainly psychological.
This article appears in October 15 • 1999.