Daddy Longlegs

Lenny, a projectionist in New York, has two weeks a year with his two sons. Across those weeks he fails at getting them to school, feeding them and putting them to bed; instead he pulls them into his own chaos. Eventually he makes a genuinely dangerous decision. The film is not interested in bad fatherhood. It is interested in love coming from the same place as incompetence: Lenny wants his children, and precisely because of that he cannot keep them safe. The film neither forgives nor convicts him. The form is raw: 16mm, handheld, real apartments, scenes grabbed in the street and dialogue open to improvisation. Josh and Benny Safdie directed; the story comes from their own father and they dedicated the film to him. Lenny is played not by an actor but by the director and editor Ronald Bronstein, who went on to co-write all of the brothers' films. It won the John Cassavetes Award at the Independent Spirit Awards. The sons are played by Sage and Frey Ranaldo. Who it is for: viewers curious about New York independents and the Safdies' early period. Who it is not for: anyone wanting orderly narration. The film is scattered, the sound is hard to catch and the scenes of neglect make it difficult to sit through.