Film

When an actor—even a good one like Hawke—steps behind the camera to direct a script based on his own semi-autobiographical novel, our standard M.O. would be to try to dodge the assignment by inventing some bogus conflict of interest (e.g., “I deal drugs to the key grip,” or “My sis catered the craft table.” ). We made an exception in this case because we were curious to see how Hawke’s chops as a director would compare to those of his two-time costar Julie Delpy (Before Sunset, Before Sunrise), whose 2 Days in Paris recently impressed us so.

Delpy comes out ahead by a long chalk, but Hawke’s film, though overlong and intermittently irritating, is a heartfelt and psychologically acute exploration of the pleasures of first love and the agonies of first heartbreak. Hawke’s younger alter ego is William (Webber), a struggling young actor from Texas who falls head over heels for Sara (Moreno of Maria Full of Grace), an aspiring singer who reciprocates his passion until suddenly she doesn’t, whereupon William’s world falls apart.

Heartbreak being one of the most boring things in the world to witness, Hawke deserves full credit for making us care as much as we do about these convincingly average lovers. It would be interesting to see what he could do if he tackled relationships among fully formed adults as a subject.