TAKE THIS WALTZ by Pamela Powell

TAKE THIS WALTZ, starring Michelle Williams, Seth Rogen, and Sarah Silverman is currently available on VOD.  After flagging this movie to see at the Tribeca Film Festival this year and then not being able to see it there, I was thrilled when I saw it was available on demand.  TAKE THIS WALTZ follows the lead character, Margot (Williams), along a dangerous path when she meets and falls in love with a neighbor.  Margot's marriage to Lou (Rogen) has become comfortable and predictable.  As she sees this new possible relationship, she struggles with different types of love and how they affect not only herself, but those around her.

Serendipity comes to mind (not the Cusack movie) when I watched this movie.  What are the odds of meeting someone in a foreign country who then turned out to be your across-the-street neighbor?  They are pretty slim,  but I suppose it could happen.  Once you let go of that chance circumstance and the fact that for being a young married couple, Margot and Lou had a lot of leisure time, you can then enjoy this movie.   (I remember working 3 jobs at their age, but maybe Montreal is less expensive than Chicago.)

TAKE THIS WALTZ has a wonderful common theme:  What was once new eventually becomes old.  The movie showed other characters dealing with the same struggle of wanting newness, but the way they handled it was very different.  Margot's interaction with her sister-in-law and friends supported everyone's struggle with the need for newness and unpredictability, but not always in a positive way.

Michelle Williams was wonderful in her ability to convey her struggle and needs on screen.  Her sometimes flighty character would flip and become very introspective and serious which, to me, made her a believable character.  We are all multidimensional and she conveyed that.  Rogen's character was not his typical crass and vulgar type as seen in ZACK AND MIRI and KNOCKED UP.  His seriousness and pain enabled the viewer to have total empathy for him.  What a wonderful match with Michelle Williams' talents.  Sarah Silverman still had acidity and bite to her character, but funny wasn't a word I would use to describe her.  Her performance as an alcoholic wife and mother hammered home how we all struggle in different ways.

This is a beautifully shot movie.  The location was one that I was not familiar with and the overall cinematography took complete advantage of the aesthetics of the location.  This well-written and well-directed movie took a common theme in everyone's life and showed you that everyone deals with this in a different way.

I might warn you that I think women will enjoy this movie more than men.  Take a look at it on VOD to see Williams in yet another thought provoking and challenging role and Rogen in a role I would love to continue to see him do.


7.5 REELS/10