The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed

Some films are destined for nervous laughter, with enough of a pungent aftertaste to linger. This is one of them.

Arnow’s poignant and original performance—refined in its awkwardness, exalted in its degradation, touched with grace in its rude self-presentation—is a double masterwork of acting and directing.

Joanna Arnow’s second feature is a symphony of ambient embarrassment.

A portrait of millennial estrangement and discontent that, despite suffering from sporadic redundancy, strikes a raw cringe-comedy nerve.

Whether Ann can free herself of her circumstance is one thing, but Arnow, as a keenly insightful filmmaker, proves again and again that she has.

Arnow keeps her scenes short and her expressions flat. These glimpses of her character’s life could be stand-alone comic book panels. Together, they’re a mosaic of stagnation.

Consider that if Woody Allen had been born a woman and had showcased nudity in his works, plus sported a strong "female gaze," we might not need Ms. Arnow to direct films, but since Woody wasn't, doesn't, and hasn't, Ms. Arnow fills a huge vacancy.

Fifty shades of day-to-day funny. Joanna Arnow represents cinema’s next wave of exciting filmmakers.

Plays like a Daniel Clowes graphic novel come to life. Odd and a little difficult, but it demystifies sexual kink and its strength as a comedy is that it's willing to go there.

... gives new and unexpected, but by no means unwelcome, meaning to cringe comedy. Deadpan and droll in equal measure, Joanna Arnow’s film brilliantly and hilariously examines millennial angst through the discomfiting lens of BDSM..