Recently I saw a movie on TCM that I'd never seen before. However, after watching it and reading more about it online, I discovered that it was a landmark of early independent New York cinema, Girlfriends from 1978.
This is the kind of movie Lena Dunham would have made back then. Instead, it was made by someone named Claudia Weill and it features an great cast and many touching scenes. The story is very simply but compelling: a young shluby woman named Susan lives with her gorgeous best friend Anne while trying to make it as a freelance photographer. They are both young and full of hope for the future. Then reality intrudes. Anne gets married and moves out, Susan struggles for a while in her career, and her relationships with men are fraught. Susan has a one-night stand that eventually turns into a strained relationship with a guy named Eric, plus she has a short weird relationship with a rabbi. She became alienated from Anne, whose new life and husband make her feel unwelcome. But, after many starts and stop, Susan's career takes off, Eric falls in love with her, and she and Anne evolve their friendship into a new understanding.
It's a deeply affecting film about love, friendship, and the vicissitudes of life. And it was way, way, way ahead of its time.
Susan is played by Melanie Mayron who had a big acting career in the 1980s, winning Emmys for her role on thirtysomething before she went on to become a successful director in her own right. The boyfriend, Eric, is played by Christopher Guest, years before he'd strike comic gold with movies like Spinal Tap and Best in Show. A very bearded Bob Balaban plays Anne's miserable husband and Eli Wallach, the great actor, plays the rabbi, making an otherwise creepy guy very likable.
This a movie that does what all movies should do -- show, and not tell. It's definately worth seeing if you can.
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