Quiet City

D: Aaron Katz; with Erin Fisher, Cris Lankenau, Sarah Hellman, Joe Swanberg, Tucker Stone, Michael Tully, Karrie Crouse

If you were wondering what it’s like to be in your 20s living in Brooklyn with nothing to do, look no further than Quiet City. Katz’s second feature is short on action but long on ambience, mapping the awkward courtship of two young city-dwellers standing uncomfortably at the gates of adulthood. Slow and meditative, at times bordering on somnolent, Quiet City is a Terrence Malick film for the new Lost Generation rapidly gentrifying New York’s outer boroughs, who have little to do but attend art openings, sit in parks, and generally waste their days talking about nothing. Katz has an eye for the beautiful shot, and he pays close attention to the humbler skylines and street scenes rarely noticed by other New York directors. His unassuming story, meanwhile, has the casual, unscripted air of true life about it, which may be his film’s greatest triumph – or the flaw that prevents it from flying.


1:30pm, Alamo South Lamar

This article appears in March 16 • 2007.

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