DVD Reviews
DVD Review: Starting out in the Evening
By Jeff Swindoll
Apr 24, 2008, 12:55 GMT

Frank Langella is probably going to be a big contender when awards season comes around, but that will be for when his critically acclaimed performance as Richard Nixon hits the screen as the play is made into a film. 

His performance in this film was mostly ignored, but that’s a damn shame as it is magnificent and deserving of recognition.

Leonard Schiller (Frank Langella) is a novelist whose been working on his latest novel for the last ten years.  Into his life steps a graduate student named Heather Wolfe (Lauren Ambrose) who is writing her master’s thesis about him.  She begins to get close to the novelist and begins to think that some hurtful things that she may say about his last two novels might best be left unsaid. 

Meanwhile, Leonard’s daughter Ariel (Lili Taylor) is hearing the sound of her biological clock winding down and is ready to have a baby – husband not really required.  When her current boyfriend proposes, she thinks that she’s outstayed her welcome especially since she’s been purposely not using her diaphragm so that she’ll get pregnant and not telling him.

She goes over to dad’s place and walks in and sees Heather’s boots crumpled on the floor and dad sitting in his bathrobe at the kitchen table. Imagining that she’s walked in on a post coital moment (somewhat innocent, but still a pretty charged evening) she embarrassedly leaves the apartment in a rush.  She’s so much in a rush that she forgets her purse but only realizes it after the cab has driven her far away from her father’s apartment and since she can’t pay the cab driver drops her. 

She happens to be in front of one of her old hangouts that she used to visit with her old boyfriend Casey (Adrian Lester).  She happens to have seen that he was back in town so she decides to ring him up to bail her out and they rekindle their romance.  

The blank page can be a frightening landscape.  Leonard faces that dreaded country as he works on his novel for that decade.  I usually have to just face the blinking cursor and I highly doubt that what I do could be considered literature.  Leonard has a history of having some novels of note and has to live up to that legend and is finding it hard to do.  Frank Langella proves that he has the acting chops to handle the role. 

He has a quiet intensity as the faded author.  It’s quite a powerful performance, but it’s more of a slow burn so don’t expect fireworks but be prepared for a slow build.  Lili Taylor is also great as Leonard’s daughter who is trying to find her place in the world and Adrian Lester also changes and evolves as the film progresses and I was touched by their relationship. 

Lauren Ambrose is also great as the student who has to come to terms with her hero worship and that maybe she’s using Leonard for more selfish reasons than she first lets on.  A film full of great performances and was deserving of more accolades.  The buzz is that Langella may get some attention come Oscar time for his role of the movie version of the Nixon/Frost play, but this performance is just as noteworthy.  

Starting out in the Evening is presented in anamorphic widescreen (1.78:1) and is enhanced for 16x9 televisions.  Special features include a commentary by director Andrew Wagner, the 2-minute theatrical trailer, and a 30 second TV spot.  

A fine film full of fine performances and one that, like a good book, is a joy to discover and cherish. 

Starting out in the Evening is now available at Amazon. As of yet, it is not available in the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.