Go Get Some Rosemary (2009)

Go Get Some Rosemary: Directed by Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie. With Ronald Bronstein, Alex Greenblatt, Sage Ranaldo, Frey Ranaldo. A father juggling his kids with the rest of his responsibilities is ultimately faced with the choice of being their father or their friend.

“The Safdie Brothers certainly served their apprenticeship. Their 2009 film u0026quot;Daddy Longlegsu0026quot; (aka u0026quot;Go Get Some Rosemaryu0026quot;), is as independent and as close to u0026#39;cinema veriteu0026#39; as American cinema gets and its study of a deadbeat fatheru0026#39;s relationship with his sons is full of an improvisatorary feeling where the players donu0026#39;t so much act their parts as live them; we could be watching a documentary. u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThereu0026#39;s no plot, just a series of nicely observed slices of life filmed on the streets of the Safdieu0026#39;s native New York and showing all the promise of early Scorsese. Where it falls down is in its lack of any kind of substantial drama not, of course, that great drama happens very much in everyday life but after a certain length of time people-watching can become a tad dull. What sustains the film is the superbly naturalistic performance of Ronald Bronstein as the father, (he was also one of the filmu0026#39;s co-writers). A newcomer, itu0026#39;s almost impossible to say where Bronstein ends and his character begins. Heu0026#39;s wonderful in the part but heu0026#39;s also the kind of man I would cross the street to avoid, lacking as he does any sense of responsibility. The kids, too, are excellent, again not so much u0026#39;actingu0026#39; as simply playing extentions of themselves. The film itself comes over as a cross between autobiography and homage and is a little too personal for mass consumption. Itu0026#39;s sufficiently good that I wish I liked it more.”