Mike Birbiglia's directorial debut, Sleepwalk With Me was a film which surprised me due to its utter honesty, being what felt like a deeply personal portrait of a man who was using the cinematic artform to express himself and tell his story. While Don't Think Twice doesn't quite achieve the same type of personal expression, due to the ensemble cast, Mike Birbiglia wisely goes back to the well of his personal experiences, writing and directing a film which immerses you in the world of a improv comedy, telling a story of struggling comedians who dream of success and acclaim thru being on the television show "Weekend Live"*hint hint. Starring a good cast of comedic actors who hold their own in the more dramatic moments, Don't Think Twice delivers an honest portrait of the confliction that exists between personal dreams/goals when they are communally shared, with these characters being at the age where they realize not everyone is going to achieve everything they dreamed about. Sleepwalk With Me beautifully expressed the importance of laughter when it comes to tragedy and sadness, and Don't Think Twice is no exception to that, feeling more like a drama, with the character's hopes and dreams being rooted in their love for comedy, with them exhibiting it on stage yet also as a cooping mechanism off of it. When one of the members of the improv group gets his big break, the group slowly becomes unhinged at the rails momentarily, with the film beautiful documenting the uncomfortable, cannibalistic nature that can arise when common dreams are shared and opportunities are finite. Any thematic gestures towards economic policy either aren't intentional, or are simply empty (i can't tell), but the film's personal study of friendship, scarcity, and the creative's pursuit is engaging from start to finish. This is a film that pulls no punches when it comes to being honest about the pursuit of creative endeavors, revealing how feelings of inadequecy, pain, failure, and heartbreak can bring out the ugliness of anyone's inherent selfishness. Don't Think Twice exhibits how underlying judgments come to the surface when frustrations emerge,,never judging these characters yet being honest about the emotional investment and venom that can be spewed when feelings of inadequacy take hold. The film achieves this so well due to its characters being genuine and personal, expressing the empowerment which creativity can and does bestow onto the individual. Smart, funny, and honest, Mike Birbiglia's Don't Think Twice is a worthy endeavor due to its ability to touch on universal concepts associated with feelings of inadequacy and the need for personal vindication.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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