Listen Up Philip (2014)

Dir: Alex Ross Perry

Jason Schwartzman’s title character in Listen Up Philip could easily be mistaken for a grown-up Max Fischer from Rushmore if you squint hard enough. To make the leap you’d first have to acknowledge that somewhere along the line Max’s enthusiasm and extracurricular achievements curdled into the arrogance and cold elitism of the titular character here. The connective tissue between those two roles is Schwartzman and his ineffable presence, both put to good to use in writer/director Alex Ross Perry’s literary-minded and caustically funny character study Listen Up Philip. (more…)