There’s a scene in A Place for Me when promiscuous and cynical teenager Samantha coolly dismisses a sweet would-be suitor with the words: “You reek of romance and good intentions.” This delightful debut story by writer-director Josh Boone also reeks of romance – but in the nicest possible way.
At its heart is the Borgens family: divorced parents William (Greg Kinnear) and Erica (Jennifer Connelly) and their teenage children Samantha (Lily Collins) and Rusty (Nat Wolff). What sets them apart is the fact that William is an award-winning published author and both kids seem to have inherited his writing genius. What makes them more ordinary is the dysfunctional dynamics within the fractured family unit.
William is obsessed by his ex-wife and has had a serious case of writers’ block since she left him for another man three years ago – although he still finds just enough energy for casual sex with married neighbour Tricia (Kristen Bell). University student Samantha is scarred by the split, refuses to talk to her mother, and is determined to avoid love at all costs, while Stephen King fanatic and all-round sensitive guy Rusty is infatuated with a cute classmate who sadly has issues of her own.
It all sounds like your typical family drama/romance, but there is a tenderness and subtlety to Boone’s film that gives it an indie edge. The script is littered with literary references and the characters, while flawed, are endearing.
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A top-notch cast is essential in a “quiet” film like this, where there are no whiz-bang special-effects and over-the-top comedy to distract from poor acting, and the producers have certainly delivered here. Kinnear (Little Miss Sunshine) and Wolff both make excellent tortured heroes, unable or unwilling to hide their raw emotion or give up on love, while Connelly (A Beautiful Mind) and Collins give strong performances as the more guarded Erica and Samantha.
Boone has said the script is “pretty autobiographical”, based partly on the divorce of his own parents, but he also wanted to explore the full range of human relationships and create a bitter-sweet film that was both honest and optimistic.
In this, he has succeeded. The truth is, if your taste centres on movies like Hangover Part 3 and GI Joe, you will probably find A Place for Me a little dull – but if you are a sucker for love and disappointed by the usual mush dished up by Hollywood, then this is a perfect tonic.
To get you in the mood, here are a few beautiful lines from the film, quoted from Raymond Carver’s What We Talk About When We Talk About Love: “I could hear my heart beating. I could hear everyone’s heart. I could hear the human noise we sat there making, not one of us moving, not even when the room went dark.”