By John Corrado
The indie dramedy Fantasy Life serves as the impressive feature directorial debut of actor Matthew Shear, doing quadruple duty as writer, director, executive producer, and star.
Shear stars in the film as Sam, an anxious young Jewish man in New York City who, in no short order, gets laid off from his job at a law firm, suffers a very public panic attack, and then gets hired to babysit his psychiatrist Fred’s (Judd Hirsch) three granddaughters.
Their father David (Alessandro Nivola) is a bassist in a band, with his aging hipster aesthetic and wine habit suggesting he’s in the midst of a midlife crisis. He’s happy to have someone watching the three girls – Claire (Callie Santoro), Zoe (Romy Fay) and Emma (Riley Vinson) – while he goes to a gig.
But things get emotionally messy when Sam meets the girls’ mother, Dianne (Amanda Peet), a middle-aged actress trying to find roles while coming to terms with the spark going out of her marriage to David. Sam and Dianne feel instantly comfortable being together, and bond over being able to understand each other’s struggles with depression. Sam begins falling for her, but there’s a sense it might be mutual.
Even if the story might hit some of the expected beats, Shear keeps his film feeling realistic. There is a version of this movie that would feel salacious, but Shear’s approach never does. The looks that Sam and Diane give each other suggest a deeper understanding between the two characters that goes beyond mere lust.
One of the most impressive aspects of Shear’s script is his authentic and respectful handling of his characters’ mental health challenges. An early scene with Sam’s psychiatrist, played by Hirsch in a nice throwback to his Oscar-nominated performance as a therapist in Ordinary People, addresses his OCD and intrusive thoughts in a frank and realistic way.
Shear credibly portrays Sam’s anxious energy, while still playing him as an awkward but charming and well-meaning young man. Peet adds layers of depth to her portrayal of an out-of-work actress just past fifty, struggling with low-level depression. The authenticity of her performance, especially in one key scene near the end, is a highlight of the film. Andrea Martin, Bob Balaban, and Zosia Mamet also appear in the cast.
The jumps ahead in time keep the film free from filler, playing out at a tight ninety minutes that showcases a collection of sharply observed and naturalistically performed character moments. It all coalesces into a really lovely slice-of-life film, one that is gently funny but with an aching tenderness underneath it.
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