The new independent holiday drama, New Year, cashes in on this year’s cinematic trend: being shot in black and white. Like the delightful and contemplative C’mon C’mon, Passing, the crowd-pleasing Belfast, Gunda, and The Tragedy of Macbeth, New Year’s lack of color is purposeful, bringing out the absolutes of a divisive night of conversation amongst friends and lovers. However, with a less than cohesive script and quippy dialogue, the black and white aesthetic comes across like most of its characters: pretentious and overbearing.
Directed by Nathan Sutton who wrote the script with his wife Elisha Renee Sutton, based on a story by the former and Christian Williams, the entire plot takes place over New Year’s Eve at Ben’s house (Timothy V Murphy), a playwright. He is about to leave L.A. and move his wife Katherine (Elisha Renee Sutton pulling double duty) and stepson Micah to New York where he hopes to pick up his writing career. For one last hurrah, the couple invites various friends from their pasts over for a party.
This includes Cameron, (Neil Jackson) Katherine’s ex and father of Micah who is grappling with losing his son and not being like his father. He brings along a naive wannabe actress Meegan (pronounced like the Key and Peele sketch) played by Raven Scott. Melancholy documentarian Julian, rising Hollywood star Joseph (a smart Nelson Lee), and his manager Willa (Gillian Shure) join in on the evening and its unraveling.
Instead of savoring his time left with his friends, egotistical and hypocritical Ben spends the evening breaking down those around him, forcing hard and uncomfortable conversations. Topics of fatherhood, sex, fame, and art wiz by and are dissected with great cynicism.
New Year’s biggest downfall is its unnatural dialogue given with often-cliche delivery. While each actor is given their moment to excel each one fumbles with stifled lines. The film’s stage show feel does not always translate on screen, with some of its actors giving exaggerated theater performances.
Sutton’s simple direction saves New Year from itself, adding simplicity and an old Hollywood feel. He lets each scene breathe and only uses music when it best impacts the story naturally. While the black and white doesn’t necessarily make total sense with this film, Sutton is able to play within the setting in an organic way. While uneven for most of its 88-minute runtime, the well-directed,well-written explosive finale makes New Year worth watching.
New Year is playing in select theaters in New York and L.A.
