Film Review: ‘All About Nina’
By Drew Novak
Writer and director Eva Vives’ grimly humorous feature-length debut, All About Nina, explores the irony in how some of the funniest people use comedy as deflection from a traumatic past. Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s take on a 30-something comedian trying to make it big carries the film despite some niggling technical shortcomings.
Nina Geld (Winstead) performs in New York clubs with an acerbic style similar to Sarah Silverman or Amy Schumer that audiences should be well acquainted with by now. She is also an alcoholic, throwing back whiskey gingers and puking between routines about meaningless hookups and “period diarrhea” so graphic they’d make 16th-century theologist and infamous scheisse enthusiast Martin Luther tremble.
Winstead, arguably most famous for her role as Michael Cera’s pithy crush in 2010’s ode to nerds, Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World, brings a necessary familiarity to a character who could otherwise be easily dismissed as a stock “bad girl with issues.” Winstead believably shoots down would-be paramours and broodily chain smokes in the shower. And Nina’s ostensibly rash move to Los Angeles in pursuit of a coveted spot on a television special, and away from an abusive fuckboy (Chace Crawford), falls right in line with that persona.
It’s interesting, then, that Nina starts to soften in notoriously self-involved Los Angeles. Her roommate, Lake (Kate del Castillo), is a New Age reiki-healing, aura-sensing stereotype, all vegan smoothies and cosmic signs. Nina notably bristles at the thought of shared feelings and lengthy hugs, but del Castillo plays the character with a warmth that wins over both the film’s lead and its audience. And a budding romance with the honest-to-a-fault Rafe (rapper Common) gives Nina a reason to rethink her reluctance to form relationships. Winstead and Common are a great match, flirting with ease and providing the film with its strongest emotional element.
As enjoyable as those two are, All About Nina stumbles when it aims for technical quirkiness. The use of handicam during especially tense moments comes off like an amateurish attempt to make scenes feel more natural and “lived in” rather than saying anything meaningful. Flipping the frame upside down and back again as Nina and Rafe giggle through weed-tinted conversation is even worse.
There are some major pacing problems as well, as the audience is hurried through some distracting edits. Scenes feel squashed up with the next, in effect creating a claustrophobic series of vignettes about a comic in SoCal as opposed to a continuous narrative. Where another director might hold a beat or two before cutting, Vives jars audiences forward. I’m not asking for Kubrick-level long takes here, but give a guy a moment to breathe. Is this is a cognizant decision, subtly playing into the idea that Geld lacks control in her own life, so why should the audience feel any differently? That’s probably overthinking it.
Thankfully, Winstead’s performance more than makes up for such problems. An uncomfortably frank revelation about Nina’s past in the final act could easily fall into melodrama in the wrong actor’s hands. Winstead uses just the right combination of indignation and sadness to avoid that pitfall, driving home the fact that All About Nina is really all about Mary.
All About Nina screens at the Roxy for the Montana Film Festival Sat., Oct. 6, at 6 PM and again Sun., Oct. 7, at 8 PM. Visit montanafilmfestival.org for ticket info and a full festival schedule.
