There comes a point in most of our lives where we feel lost – we’re too young to have developed a clear understanding of where our future is heading but also too old to be able to rely on the folly of youth as a legitimate excuse for not having a clear life plan. This can be both a daunting and insightful experience, particularly for those who are open-minded enough to leap into the unknown and discover who they are through engaging with the world that surrounds them. This is ultimately the message right at the heart of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, in which Joanna Arnow, in her second feature-length directorial effort after her autobiographical visual-poem-slash-personal documentary i hate myself 🙂 a few years ago, tells the story of Ann, a woman heading towards her mid-thirties, and forced to reconcile her feelings of deep insecurity with the fact that she allows herself to be taken advantage by any man who shows her even an iota of attention, which gives her a sense of purpose, even if it comes from a place of profound self-loathing and anxiety, which in turn only starts to be alleviated the further she allows herself to set out to achieve what she wants, rather than just being the source of satisfaction and support for those around her. A very strange comedy that doesn’t give us the answers we would necessarily expect, but which still offers something very unique in terms of both style and narrative, the film is a major achievement as far as contemporary independent cinema tends to go, its free-form and somewhat unorthodox approach being a source of much of the acclaim surrounding it, and which Arnow uses to make a legitimate case for herself as one of the most exciting young filmmakers to have emerged in the past decade. It may not be a difficult film to understand, but it is still one that takes quite a bit of work to fully unpack in its entirety, and we find that the further we venture into the unconventional terrain of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, the more insights we glean about this woman and her experiences, speaking to both the character and the director herself, the two existing in some kind of dialogue that defines the entire film.

The process of getting older is rarely easy, especially for those who are essentially unremarkable and don’t immediately draw attention to themselves, which is a relatively solid description for the protagonist of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, who is simply trying to make her way through life in a manner that gives her some sense of satisfaction, albeit not the kind that is necessarily easy to find. It seems like the impetus behind this film was Arnow reflecting on her own journey as an artist and woman, navigating life as a resident of New York City, arguably the most famous city in the world, which she does as someone who is decidedly average in every way. The film is a vibrant and often bitingly funny portrait of a woman navigating her thirties, or at least doing something that can be approximated as such. These kinds of stories are certainly a dime a dozen, and it seems like absolutely every independent filmmaker has to produce a work that examines the intricate minutiae of everyday life. However, in terms of both concept and execution, Arnow does it very differently with The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, which is a slightly disquieting but still profoundly captivating exploration of the lengths to which someone will go to feel accepted, even if it means degrading herself or at least not paying attention to her wellbeing, both mentally and physically. Telling such a story is already quite intrepid, but to fashion it as a comedy is even more fascinating, since we find the director is insistent on evoking a sense of gentle absurdity, allowing us compelling insights into the challenges faced by this individual as she gradually starts to realize her worth, which is not an easy journey but one that is still very captivating, especially when constructed under the guise of a more humorous, intelligent comedy. There are many aspects of The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed that are worth our time, but its unique sense of self-awareness is perhaps its most endearing and resonant since many of us would be able to see ourselves reflected in the main character, or at least to an extent where it is far more relevant than we would initially expect.

The idea of the simple, well-crafted independent comedy centring around someone simply navigating the day-to-day challenges of their somewhat unremarkable life has been integral to the development of independent cinema, which was built on the premise of providing insights into the trials and tribulations of ordinary people without needing to rely on overarching narrative patterns usually associated with mainstream cinema. However, Arnow is not someone entirely enamoured with the idea of following any kind of convention, even those that come from within the same coterie of artists who inspired her. As a result, we discover quite early that The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed abandons traditions from the start, being intent on defining itself as wholly original, much less enamoured with conventional ideas and more focused on allowing Arnow the space to express herself freely and without any limitations – and she most certainly leaps at the opportunity to have this kind of artistic freedom, both in terms of the story and how it is told. The film is told in a series of brief vignettes, each one not running longer than a minute or two in most cases (and some of them lasting only a few seconds), which makes the film one that provides primarily brief, episodic glimpses into the life of the character of Ann, a purposeful choice that removes the concept of meta-narratives and replaces it with an approach that uses short segments to create a mosaic of this character and her daily routine. It’s a profoundly minimalistic approach that not only has narrative worth since it contributes a sense of simplicity to the story but also speaks to the overarching themes of the film, which are drawn from a deeply personal place for Arnow. She uses this film as a way to explore what it is like to be a woman in the modern world, where one has legal agency to be independent, but still struggles with the broad institutionalized patriarchal structures. The deadpan tone of the film prevents it from becoming too heavy-handed, and the lack of a clear thread binding the stories together, outside of those provided by Arnow’s character, gives a lot of tonal and atmospheric nuance to The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, which is much more driven by mood than it is narrative.

In addition to clearly being a very talented writer and director (the latter in particular is worth mentioning – the simplicity of the film is a merit, but we can’t ignore how striking many of the compositions throughout it are – the director has an eye for detail), Arnow is also a gifted actor in her own right, and her decision to play the central role herself is one of the several aspects of the film that are so incredibly memorable. The story revolves around Ann, who we can assume is a fictional construction that simply employs many of Arnow’s quandaries and curiosities around what it means to be a woman in the modern world, as told through the relationships she forms with various men, some of which are better to her than others. There is a profound simplicity to this film, which is all brought forward by her striking performance, and the fact that she is not the most natural actor, but rather one with a clear set of skills that are implemented in the story as being defining of her character. Ann is a droll everywoman who speaks with a monotone and seems to be consistently in a state of complete existential ennui, even in the moments when most people would be more enthused or upbeat. Her frank, matter-of-fact approach to living life is hilarious and heartwarming since it proves that one doesn’t need to be the most charming to be worth watching and that these quaint eccentricities can be delightful in their own right. The rest of the cast is also very good, with particular highlights being veteran character actor Scott Cohen as the older man to whom Ann consistently returns, despite his refusal to see her as anything other than a sexual object, as well as younger actors Babak Tafti and Peter Vack, both of whom are fantastic in playing these more sincere, younger men who prove to be much more appropriate partners in terms of both age and how they treat the relationship, but who are still nonetheless very complex figures in the protagonist’s life. All the performances are defined by a sense of authenticity, with none of the actors being asked to over-exert themselves, and instead simply have to follow the more subtle, atmospheric tone that guides the film and gives it such a unique mood, from which Arnow can make some remarkably profound observations about the human condition in all of its complexity. 4

The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed is not a film that leaps out at the viewer – everything about it seems to be quite subtle and nuanced, and it is more something that is discovered rather than recommended since the appeal of its low-fidelity, minimalistic style and sometimes awkward storyline is difficult to understand without the context that accompanies them and makes the entire film such a unique achievement. The jagged structure, in which we are given only brief, fleeting glances into the daily life of a truly unremarkable woman as she seeks out love in a city that seems to be hostile to every one of her efforts is fascinating, if not sometimes profoundly uncomfortable in an extremely effective way. The deadpan humour is certainly going to make it an acquired taste, and the mouthful of a title (which is quite impactful once we realize what inspired it, which we only discover in the final moments) does give it an air of intentional elitism that Arnow is attempting to combat as a part of the plot. Yet, everything comes together beautifully by the end – it doesn’t always make sense, and it sometimes feels far too awkward for our comfort, but the nuances and layers that the director brings to the film immediately make The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed one of the year’s most surprising, complex character studies, one that is bitingly funny, genuinely earnest and deeply moving, all of which it achieves without even a moment of arrogance or the desire to be insincere, choosing instead to target itself at the viewers that would implicitly understand this film and everything that it ultimately represented, both in terms of character motivations and the general structure, which is defined by its realism and elevated by its frank, open nature that gives the viewer unfurnished, honest insights into the trials and tribulations of this character and the world in which she resides.