New York City can swallow you whole. It can be an uncaring place with busied people walking down frustrated avenues. It’s not that the city is mean or that the people in the city are mean––rather that life is hard and it’s made harder with less space and more bodies and smells and noises surrounding you. Andy (Michael Zegen), a fledgling real-estate broker who needs rent money today or he is evicted, has been swallowed by the city before Notice to Quit even starts. He’s showing slum-house listings to aggravated clients, stealing appliances from those listings to make ends meet.
Written and directed by Simon Hacker, the film takes place over the course of one hot, horrible day. The only bright spot is his daughter Anna (Kasey Bella Suarez), who has demanded she join him on his quest to make a sale and earn the commission that will save his apartment. It’s a relatively benign task made impossible by his generally nasty attitude and the undeniable fact that this is the hand he has been dealt. This lead character’s lack of accountability is frankly shocking and––in a painful way––more relatable than most viewers will like to admit.
Robert Klein emerges as a source of light and brevity for two little, lovely scenes playing Andy’s retired father who’s been forced to take on a roommate in his old age. In these moments, Notice to Quit is a surefire comedy. But the laughs are small in comparison to the pain and exhaustion it exudes. Zegen wears it well and is asked to do plenty (perhaps too much) here. This is a portrait of a bad father, though probably a good man. At one point there’s this quite beautiful line: “You’re a good father when you’re not trying to be.” I’d wager most fathers understand it quite well.
New York City is captured well, on 35mm, by cinematographer Mika Altskan. The camera often stays close and uncomfortable; wide shots with Anna in the frame offer us a rare respite. Kasey Bella Suarez is one of those young performers who seems wise beyond her years. That type of energy is often overwrought, but not here. Without Anna, Andy would be impossible to handle. That he does not realize this for a good long while is almost an indictment of the whole film.
And still, Notice to Quit mostly works. There’s an understated score by Giosuè Greco and a very funny supporting turn by Michael Angelo Covino, who plays a two-bit criminal determined that Andy fulfill his promise of working AC units. There’s a chaotic confrontation of characters at an open house that’s a particular standout. As everything comes to a head, it becomes clear that it’s not Andy we’re rooting for––it’s Anna. The city has swallowed Andy whole, but he can still do right by his daughter. For such a small, simple film, this is quite powerful.
Notice to Quiet opens in theaters on September 27.
The post Notice to Quit Review: A Father is Engulfed by the City He Lives In first appeared on The Film Stage.
