Here and Now (2018 film)

Here and Now (originally titled Blue Night) is a 2018 American romantic drama film directed by Fabien Constant, starring Sarah Jessica Parker and Simon Baker. It has been described as an homage to the 1962 Agnès Varda film Cléo from 5 to 7.[2][3] The film was shot in 16 days in New York City, and follows Vivienne (Parker), a singer who is diagnosed with a glioblastoma.[4]

Here and Now
Theatrical release poster
Directed byFabien Constant
Produced by
Written byLaura Eason
Starring
Music byAmie Doherty
CinematographyJavier Aguirresarobe
Edited byMalcolm Jamieson
Production
company
  • AMBI Group
  • Big Indie Pictures
  • Pretty Match Productions
Distributed byParamount Pictures
Release date
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Box office$13,892[1]

It had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2018. It was released in the United States on November 9, 2018, by Paramount Pictures.

Plot

Movie starts with the zooming in of Vivienne’s (Sarah Jessica Parker) trembling blue crystal eyes. Whilst in the waiting room, Vivienne who is visibly anxious receives a call from her manager, Ben (Common), that she is late for the rehearsal. Afterwards, Vivienne finds out from her doctor, Dr. Marianne Holt (Mary Beth Peil), that she has a brain tumor i.e. terminal brain cancer. Additionally, if she decides to undergo treatments, her average rate of survival is 14 months. However, the side effect from removal of her tumor includes impacts to her mobility, language skills and musical ability. Which in turns jeopardizes her livelihood since she is a singer. After the visit with Dr. Holt, Vivienne walks aimlessly around NYC. She receives multiple calls which she rejected/missed from her mother, Jeanne (Jacqueline Bisset). Vivienne finally reaches the rehearsal studio and is received by Ben at the front door. He informs her that she has an upcoming interview right after the rehearsal. As she comes face to face with her band mates, she apologizes for being late. She begins hugging everyone else except the drummer, Jordan (Taylor Kinney), whom she simply just said hello to. After the rehearsal, Jordan asks Vivienne out for coffee and is refused due to the interview. Their fingers linger on his drum set, implying that they have a romantic relationship. After, Vivienne climbs up to the second floor with Jordan ensue. They begin making out passionately with Ben later interrupting. They then proceed to have sex.

Afterwards, Vivienne continues to wander around aimlessly as she makes her way to the interview location. She passes by a clothing store and buys an expensive dress to wear for her tour. She then attends the interview but doesn’t seem like she is into the conversation with the interviewer, Oona (Phillipa Soo). After the interview, Vivienne goes to Birdland and meets Ray (Michael Potts). Their conversation ends with Vivienne rushing off for her Lyft. Throughout her Lyft ride, Sami (Waleed Zuaiter), the Lyft driver is in a heated argument over the phone and blasted rock music after. Vivienne visibly uncomfortable in her Lyft ride, demanded to get off early. She returns home and is greeted by her mother who bombarded her with tons of questions and concerns. Vivienne becomes increasing annoyed and replies rudely to Jeanne. Jeanne apologizes to her and left the kitchen. After a glass of wine, Vivienne locks herself in her room, saw a young picture of her daughter, Lucie (Gus Birney), and started crying. She realizes what she has done to her mother and went out to apologize and hugs her. Subsequently, she recalls that she has left her dress in her Lyft and called Sami to retrieve it. Sami arrives outside Vivienne’s house to return her dress. As he is about to drive off, Vivienne halts him and asked if she can catch a ride to somewhere nearby. Sami rejects her request and drives off as he didn’t want anyone on board with him while he is attending to a personal phone call.

Vivienne arrives at her ex, Nick’s (Simon Baker), house unannounced. Nick invites her to dinner and she politely declines. On one hand, Vivienne wants to talk to Nick about her condition before Lucie gets home. On the other hand, Nick wants to talk to Vivienne about attending Lucie’s recitals. Which means that Vivienne will have to cancel some of her tours to attend the recitals. Before Vivienne could proceed further, Lucie returns home. She appears to treat and respond to Vivienne’s advances coldly. Vivienne who is sensitive enough to know that her daughter is unhappy with her, decides to remove herself from Nick’s house. She bids Nick and Lucie farewell and left. Outside the door, she starts to sob. She continues wandering around aimlessly, ends up on a bridge and has a rather odd conversation with an older lady (Venida Evans). Vivienne then calls Ben to arrange a meet up at their usual spot. As she travels to their meeting spot, she chances upon her old friend, Tessa (Renée Zellweger). They have a little catch up session about their lives before Tessa returns to her birthday party. Vivienne then attends a performance in which Jordan is playing the drums. After the performance, she is invited to sing on stage. Vivienne covers a song "Unfollow the Rules" by Rufus Wainwright. She later has sex with Jordan at his apartment and leaves him in the middle of the night. She gets into a Lyft and met Sami again, who drives her to Nick’s house. Nick is dismayed that Vivienne has once again shows up announced. Lucie who is already awake comes out of her bedroom to see what the common is about. Nick excuses himself to allow Vivienne some time with Lucie. In her bedroom, Lucie plays her song to her mother and is met with a huge adoration by Vivienne. Vivienne proceeds to hand the dress she bought earlier to Lucie and passes it off as a gift, which was originally intended for her tour. Before Lucie fell asleep, Vivienne expresses her regrets for not being there for her. Lucie acknowledges and comforts Vivienne by saying that she likes her so much more than her friends like their mothers right now. Vivienne kisses Lucie goodnight and leaves her bedroom and goes to the living room to see Nick watching an old French movie. They converse awhile before Nick realizes something is wrong with Vivienne. Vivienne discloses that something is indeed wrong with her. Nick reprimands her for prioritizing work over what is actually important and alludes that she is selfish. Before they conclude their conversation, Nick wants Vivienne to update him about her condition before they decide how to disclose her condition to Lucie. Nick then holds her hand and expresses that he really does care for her and that he is scared. Vivienne then pull her hand away from Nick and returns to Lucie’s bedroom. She sits down beside Lucie’s bed and spends the night shaking and weeping.

In the morning, Vivienne sneaks out Nick house without informing neither Lucie nor Nick. She returns home to pack some clothes for her surgery and leaves the house without informing Jeanne. She takes a Lyft and is chauffeured by Sami once again. As Vivienne reveals her destination, Sami realizes that she is facing some health issues. While driving he turns around to check out Vivienne, but Vivienne avoids his eye contacts and takes a nap for the remainder of the Lyft ride. She is later awakened by him. Outside the hospital, due to Vivienne’s request, both Vivienne and Sami get out of the car for coffee. Vivienne politely declines Sami's invitation to stay. She begins walking away from Sami and finally turns around smiling at him. Sami returns her a comforting smile. After, Ben shows up walking out of the hospital to fetch Vivienne. He proceeds towards her as they embrace, he then carries her bag, and they entered the hospital. While on the hospital bed, Vivienne removes her jewelries. The scene cuts back to the movie opening but coupled with her heavy breathing and a loud nervous sigh.

Cast

Production

In July 2017, it was announced that Jacqueline Bisset had joined the cast in the role of Parker's mother.[5] Principal photography started in July 2017 in New York City.[6]

Release

The film had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on April 19, 2018.[7][8] Shortly after, Paramount Pictures acquired US distribution rights to the film and set the film for a November 9, 2018, release.[9]

Reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 23% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 4.03/10.[10] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 45 out of 100, based on ten critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[11]

Peter Debruge of Variety found that "Constant can't decide whether Vivienne is keeping her emotions buried deep inside or wearing them on her sleeve, and because Parker plays it somewhere in between, we rely on other characters to elucidate the situation."[2] Rex Reed of The Observer similarly found the film "Bleak and paced with the energy of drops of water from a plumbing leak, Here and Now is deliberately slow, hoping to provide viewers a chance to share the torturous mental anguish Vivienne is going through. The process only succeeds in boring us to death. This is no fault of Parker, who also produced the film, but of Fabien Constant, an inexperienced film director best known for TV commercials, who is making his feature-film debut."

The film, widely considered an homage to Cléo from 5 to 7 (1962), was negatively compared to the original. David Erhlich of IndieWire felt that "for an homage boasting a far more fatal outlook than Varda's original, it's frustrating and kind of perverse that Blue Night [Here and Now] should be so gentle. 'I'm not done yet,' Vivienne declares. But we never even see her get started." Erhlich also found that "a chance run-in with an estranged friend (Renée Zellweger, in a very welcome cameo) leaves all sorts of meat on the table, minutes of screen time wasted on the vague understanding that growing older requires people to tighten their emotional bandwidth."[3] In a mixed review, Dana Schwartz of Entertainment Weekly found that "the premise—an homage to the 1962 Agnès Varda film Cléo From 5 to 7—works in spurts" while praising the appearance of Zellweger, describing the film as "heightened by the magnetic Renée Zellweger, barely concealing her suburban rage behind a cheerfully swirled glass of wine." Overall she felt however, "for most of the film, Parker's Vivienne is bland and forgettable."[12]

gollark: Sure they are.
gollark: Okay, the people programming applications do not in most cases want exploits.
gollark: Nobody *wants* an exploit.
gollark: I mean, yes, you would be disincentivized to have exploits, but that's... already the case.
gollark: And I don't think punishing waaaay after the exploit exists is helpful.

References
  1. "Here and Now (2018)". Box Office Mojo.
  2. Debruge, Peter (2018-04-20). "Tribeca Film Review: 'Blue Night'". Variety. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  3. Ehrlich, David (2018-04-20). "'Blue Night' Review: Sarah Jessica Parker Shines In a Dour Homage to Agnès Varda—Tribeca". IndieWire. Retrieved 2018-06-16.
  4. McCarthy, Kelly (November 2, 2018). "Sarah Jessica Parker says deeply 'emotional' role as singer diagnosed with brain tumor hit close to home". ABC News. Retrieved January 26, 2019.
  5. McNary, Dave (25 July 2017). "Jacqueline Bisset Joins Sarah Jessica Parker's 'Best Day of My Life' (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  6. Busch, Anita (11 July 2017). "Renée Zellweger, Isabella Rossellini, Common & Others Join Cast Of 'Best Day Of My Life'". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved 29 September 2017.
  7. Raup, Jordan (March 7, 2018). "Tribeca 2018 Lineup Includes 'Disobedience,' 'The Miseducation of Cameron Post,' 'The Seagull,' and More". The Film Stage. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  8. "Blue Night". Tribeca Film Festival. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  9. Fuster, Jeremy (August 16, 2018). "Paramount Claims Rights to Sarah Jessica Parker's 'Here and Now'". The Wrap. Retrieved August 16, 2018.
  10. "Here and Now (Blue Night) (2018)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  11. "Here and Now Reviews". Metacritic. Retrieved May 16, 2020.
  12. "'Here and Now' is a bleary, boring misstep for Sarah Jessica Parker: EW review". EW.com.
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