TIFF Review: UNION SQUARE

UNION SQUARE was a bit of a different watch for me.

The story is pretty simple: Lucy (Mira Sorvino) has impulsively come into New York City to surprise her current lover. That plan doesn’t exactly work out, so she decides to knock on her sister’s door. Her sister is Jenny (Tammy Blanchard), and within moments we learn that the sisters haven’t spoken in a few years. That doesn’t deter Lucy, and she barrels into Jenny’s place needing a soft place to land after her emotional afternoon.

Seems simple right? Well two things made it a different experience. For starters, there’s the fact that everything about Sorvino’s performance is abrasive. She’s a needy drama queen that swears like a sailor, speaks loudly without any semblance of class, will take over any room she walks into, puts annoying TV shows on in common rooms (with the volume turned up) and then doesn’t watch them…even her ringtone is annoying. Take all of that, and you have a litmus test. Take that litmus test and watch it from the fourth row, and you have what qualifies as cruel and unusual.

And yet, like the strained hospitality Jenny tries to show her sister, I couldn’t turn Lucy away. I couldn’t pick up and bail out of that theatre, because there seemed to be a desperation behind Lucy’s manner that kept me wondering what was really going on. Turns out, there is a lot going on, and seeing it all unfold was the reward for my patience.

However, no sooner was I drawn into this short and sweet tale of family dysfunction than it ended! UNION SQUARE is a wickedly svelte eighty minutes, and those last twenty just sail. It’s a wild story structure to follow that seemed to take “always leave ’em wanting more” and run with it. In some ways, the odd pacing of the film is evocative of Lucy herself – off-putting, then pitiful, then tender once it opens up.

There are some flaws in the film – including a plot point I find wildly implausible – but it was worth watching just to see Hurricane Sorvino leave a trail of destruction in her wake. It feels like it’s been a dog’s age since I saw Mira Sorvino do anything worthwhile (Supporting Actress Curse?), and I get the feeling that UNION SQUARE isn’t going to get the exposure needed to give her a boost…and that’s a real pity. She’s capable of creating some real depth, so if I’m left with a hope after UNION SQUARE, it’s that Mira can start picking some better parts and get back on the radar sometime soon.