The ill-defined boundaries of modern relationships come home to roost in this bitterly dark comedy about a graying Brooklyn hipster torn between two women.
Neil is a bartender (though he drinks more like a customer) who owns a much-envied New York apartment that his estranged wife Lizzie made him abandon for “the good life” in California. But when relocation turned sour, Neil came back without her. Now he’s cashing in on his immediate chemistry with an aspiring singer-songwriter named Spoon, who’s young enough to make everyone cringe. When Lizzie shows up for a surprise visit, she inadvertently...complicates things for the rudderless, wise-cracking loser who’s trying to be a protagonist. (Trigger warnings would amount to spoilers.)
PERMANENT COLLECTION calls to mind the most effective storytelling practices of Noah Baumbach and Whit Stillman.