Review: In Our Nature

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In Our Nature

What's the nature of In Our Nature? Smart but rather dull, like a sophisticated person who needs better stories to tell.

I had hoped the producers of Meek's Cutoff and Wendy and Lucy -- two of my favorite quiet little movies -- would deliver another entertaining and keenly observant film with In Our Nature. But while Vincent Savino and Anish Savjani's new film says some compelling things about human relationships, it suffers from a plodding pace and only mildly interesting narrative.

In Our Nature is set entirely in an upstate New York weekend home, where young Brooklynites Seth (Zach Gilford) and Andie (Jena Malone) hope to spend a romantic weekend. Shortly after they arrive, Seth's long-estranged father, Gil (John Slattery), who owns the house, shows up unexpectedly with his much-younger girlfriend, Vicky (Gabrielle Union). Tempers flare immediately, as Seth and Gil blame each other for the scheduling mix-up.

Andie and Vicky persuade Gil and Seth to share the house for the weekend; they also do their best to relieve the long-simmering tensions between father and son. This is no easy task -- there are plenty of awkward moments as Gil and Seth try to get reacquainted, patch up their relationship and get to know each other's girlfriend. In Our Nature follows the four characters as they slowly reveal themselves to each other in conversations about their lives and relationships.

This character-driven structure isn't necessarily a bad thing; in many films, it works quite well. I've long been a champion of slow-paced talkfests like In Our Nature, so I didn't object its almost complete lack of plot or action. But although the characters say a lot about themselves, they say little to make us care about them or their problems. While Seth, Andie, Gil and Vicky are all skillfully developed, wholly realistic characters with believable back stories, these stories are so predictable and mundane that they don't hold our interest. From Gil's uptight lawyer to Andie's pothead nonprofit worker, we've met these people before in a hundred other films.

While the characters aren't terribly captivating, their abrasive interplay does create some dramatic tension, if not often enough. Their relationships are complex, especially Seth and Gil's unspoken mutual jealously, which they cloak in constant criticism and nagging. (Their Odd Couple-like quarreling about keeping the house tidy may seem superficial, but it hints at messy Seth's desire for more structure in his life and neat-freak Gil's yearning to cut loose once in a while.) There also are some insights into Gil and Vicky's May-December (okay, May-September) romance, as Vicky wonders whether she's nothing more than Gil's way of dealing with his mid-life crisis.

But occasional insight and dramatic tension aside, In Our Nature is so low key and tonally flat that it never really engages its audience. Even its pivotal moments are oddly reserved, as if the characters are afraid to dig deeper into their problems or let their quarrels escalate beyond snippy bickering. The film's sunnier moments are just as reserved, as if Seth, Andie, Gil and Vicky are avoiding happiness the way they avoid meaningful conflict.

If In Our Nature is emotionally understated, its visual style is equally muted. Most of the action happens under cloudy skies, giving the film a drab, colorless look that only compounds its emotionally vacant feel. The lush upstate New York forests and pristine lake next to the house should serve as brilliant contrasts to the mostly dour story; instead, the cloud cover makes them look murky and uninviting.

The four actors give competent if not memorable performances, reciting intelligent if not memorable dialogue.  Their jobs are all the more difficult because their characters aren't very likable; they all come across as self absorbed and slightly whiny as they complain about their entirely first-world problems, and it's a challenge for any actor to make such characters sympathetic.  If anyone stands out, it's Slattery, who seems to relish his character's droll nature and compulsive tendencies.

Again, In Our Nature is an astute film with much to say about family dynamics. I just wish it had found more captivating ways to make its many important points.