Quitters
Description
Sly San Francisco teen Clark Rayman (Ben Konigsberg) is navigating life pretty well between an aloof dad and a pill-addled mom until she checks in for rehab and his father tries on the role of disciplinarian. A smirking teenager who thinks he has life figured out and who can typically outsmart everyone around him, Clark is not happy with this change of circumstance. So he decides to find a new place to live and a new family in the process. As Clark, Konigsberg successfully rides a fine line between arch self-awareness and aggravatingly adolescent entitlement. The sprawling (and excellent) supporting cast includes the underrated Kieran Culkin (in a nod to his role as another, sharp, alienated teenager in Burr Steers’ Igby Goes Down (2002)), Jim Breuer, Saffron Burrows and Greg Germann. Noah Pritzker’s auspicious debut is a razor-sharp comedic drama that echoes the precise wit and knowing whimsy of Noah Baumbach and Whit Stillman, but with a specific and charming Bay Area sensibility. —Mike Keegan
San Francisco native Noah Pritzker attended Columbia University. He says of his career path, “In college, I had the opportunity to intern at The Onion and Saturday Night Live. Around that time I started writing screenplays and studying film more seriously. The more I wrote the more I wanted to try and actually make something of it, and once I got the chance to, I fell in love with the process. The first thing I made in grad school was a short called Little Dad and while writing and directing that I felt like I had started to find my voice.”
Film Details
Language English
Year 2014
Runtime 94
Country USA
Director Noah Pritzker
Producer Luca Borghese, Ben Howe
Writer Noah Pritzker, Ben Tarnoff
Editor Beatrice Sisul
Cinematographer Jakob Ihre
Music David Shire
Cast Ben Konigsberg, Mira Sorvino, Saffron Burrows, Kieran Culkin