Hannah Takes the Stairs 2007

      Hannah is a recent college graduate interning at a Chicago production company.  She is crushing on two of the comedy writers at work, Matt and Paul.  Hannah and the two men share an office and the men keep her entertained.  Could a relationship with one of the men disrupt the delicate balance of their friendship?  Would it be better for Hannah to look for romance outside of the work place?

     Greta Gerwig plays Hannah, she is a twenty something who appears to have a job in a TV production office.  She's on the verge of breaking up with her muso boyfriend and flirting with the talented but emotionally prickly duo of comedy writers on the show.  A muso boyfriend is a person more obsessed with music than their current girl friend.  Their record collection contains music and artists nobody else has heard of?  If they discover or believe that an artist is becoming popular, they will deny they ever listened to them and dispose of any evidence that they did listen to them??

     This movie was shot without a script!!  It is a Joe Swanberg no-budget film, starring its co-writer Greta Gerwig.  It is a quintessential "mumblecore" movie.  This term means it's very distinctive with performances that are so laid-back they are hardly performances at all.  They have the feel of ultra-casual self conscious improvisations. This is very different from conventional acting but also very different from real life.  Mumblecore also refers to super-low-budget movies.  They are mostly plot less (hence the no script), filled with self-absorbed people in their 20’s trying to find some kind of meaning in their lives.  3* (This movie is OK)


83 min, Comedy directed and written by Joe Swanberg and also written by Greta Gerwig, Kent Osborne, Andrew Bujalski, Ry Russoo-Young, Mark Duplass, Todd Rohal, Kevin Bewersdorf, Tipper Newton, Kris Rey with Greta Gerwig, Kent Osborne, Andrew Bujalski, Ry Russo-Young, Mark Duplass, Todd Rohal, Tippr Newton, Kris Rey, Kevin Bewersdorf, Ivan Albertson.

Imdb 5.6* out of 10* with 1776 reviews, Rotten tomatoes 59% with 46 critic reviews 45% with 2500+ audience scores, The Guardian 2* out of 5* Peter Bradshaw, SF Gate (San Francisco Chronicle) sitting up in his seat means he likes the movie, Slant Magazine 2* out of 4*, Letterboxd 3* out of 5.*