Talia Balsam is a paragon of acting talent who doesn’t get nearly as many opportunities to fully stand out as she ought. So it’s probable that “South Mountain,” a relatively rare starring vehicle for Balsam, would be worth seeing even if it were not so sharply observed and well-constructed. Fortunately, we are not obliged to split any differences here.
The episodic film, written and directed by Hilary Brougher, begins on a near-idyllic summer day in the modest but cozy Catskills home Lila (Balsam) shares with her partner, Edgar (Scott Cohen), and sundry kids, almost all of whom are ready to leave the nest. Burgers are grilled, beers are consumed (surreptitiously by a couple of the teenagers), jobs groused about. Edgar is a screenwriter of sorts, and he leaves his chef duties to take a “business” call inside the house. The business is watching, on his phone, the other woman in his life give birth to his child.
As expected, this development upends Edgar and Lila’s domestic arrangement. Like the good New York liberals they are, they at first talk things out calmly — Cohen resourcefully makes Edgar’s insistence on equanimity his most snakelike quality — but the betrayal, for Lila, turns over a massive “I’ve wasted my life” rock.
At first this manifests itself in brisk, acerbic self-loathing. A hunky male friend of her stepdaughter remarks “So Sam says that you’re an artist” and Lila shoots back, “I teach.” Lila’s mounting rage then finds her acting out with said hunky male. She also makes an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to get back at Edgar in an extreme way.
Balsam is marvelous throughout, precisely measured in portraying a state often teetering on abjection. Balsam’s Lila can turn from luminescent to hangdog in a flash. The character’s inner worlds register with exceptional vividness.
South Mountain
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 22 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
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‘South Mountain’ Review: She’s Having Your Baby? Let’s Talk It Out - The New York Times
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