Don’t let this one pass you by.
It isn’t as if we’re short of amazing stuff to watch these days, but it is very easy to let amazing stuff pass you by simply because it didn’t get as much publicity as the LOUDER, MORE OBVIOUSLY amazing stuff.
Which is why we want to rectify that potential problem for Private Life, an incredible little movie that has been added to Netflix with little fanfare.
The movie tells the story of Rachel (Kathryn Hahn – Step Brothers, Bad Moms) and Richard (Paul Giamatti – Billions, Sideways) are a couple in the throes of infertility who try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the insular world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption.
After the emotional and economic upheaval of in vitro fertilization, they’re at the end of their middle-aged rope, but when Sadie (relative newbie Kayli Carter), a recent college drop out, re-enters their life, things begin to look up.
The movie was written and directed by Tamara Jenkins, who previously brought us the equally fantastic but equally overlooked The Savages, starring the late, great Phillip Seymour Hoffman in one of his final roles.
As for the reaction to the new movie, this is what the critics have been saying:
“The film’s writer-director, Tamara Jenkins is a brilliant chronicler of upper-middle class white people and their foibles, and her eye for detail is anthropologically exact, empathetic but never begging for sympathy.” – RogerEbert.com
“Jenkins is always more interested in emotional truth than she is in laughs. Throughout Private Life’s tense 124 minutes, she continually achieves both.” – L.A. Weekly
“Though it is poignant and funny in nearly equal measure, the most remarkable aspect of Private Life may be its lack of noticeable exaggeration. Ms. Jenkins is working at the scale of life, with the confidence that the ordinary, if viewed from the right angle, will provide enough drama and humor to sustain our interest.” – The New York Times
“Jenkins constructs an entire narrative from little exchanges, reveries, complications and setbacks. With a mix of concentration and expansiveness that can take your breath away, she unpacks exactly what “they’ve tried everything” means.” – Los Angeles Times
Private Life is available to watch on Netflix right now.
Check out the trailer right here:
Clip via Netflix
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