trailer: Concussion

Varie

Concussion is a funny and engaging drama about a middle-aged lesbian partner in Long Island, played by a talented Robin Weigert (expect to see more of her), who becomes unhappy in her marriage and begins working as a high priced prostitute, taking only hand-picked female clients. The prostitution feels like a device, a mere setup for a series of affairs, but Concussion is a movie much less about the sex industry than about a woman’s experimentation with infidelity. For first-time feature director Stacie Passon, it’s an accomplishment—a smart and responsible depiction of normalized gay life in this country. Also, it’s refreshing to see a film from such a unique perspective, considering the plethora of male fantasy films that debut weekly. Weigert’s Abby could be any spouse in any relationship losing steam, just looking for a way to meet her needs. (film-forward.com)

“Concussion takes an intimate look at a 42-year-old housewife who decides to enter the world of prostitution after a blow to the head from one of her children’s baseballs. Abby (Robin Weigert) shares a seemingly picturesque life in suburbia with her wife, Kate (Julie Fain Lawrence), but the blow shifts something in her mind, pushing her to the sudden realization that she may want something more, or at least something different, out of life. That something different turns out to be first an awkward rendezvous with a strung-out hooker, but later leads to a hook up with a high-class escort suggested to her by her business associate, Justin (Jonathan Tchaikovsky), who also moonlights as a pimp for an expensive call-girl service. When Justin later informs Abby that the escort gave her top marks in the bedroom, even suggesting that she start her own business, the wife and mother decides to give the profession a try. Abby discovers that she’s not only good at what she does, but can make thousands of dollars doing it, and soon she must contend with juggling her secret life with the one she’s trying to run away from.
First-time writer-director Stacie Passon approaches the subject matter provocatively though never exploitatively, shooting the no-holds-barred sex scenes intimately, rather than with the sole aim of titillation. The film suffers slightly by failing to paint a better picture of the dynamics between Abby and Kate, or provide some context as to what type of person Abby was before her concussion and sudden awakening. Still, Weigert gives an amazingly raw performance in the role, which demands her to be both physically and emotionally vulnerable. One scene in particular where Abby is roughed up by a client is both disturbing and fascinating, serving as the culmination of her fears and desires played out with brutal honesty. By the end of the film, it’s unclear whether Abby’s concussion was the cause in her sudden shift, or whether it was an inevitability, something gestating in her from long before. That uncertainty is where the true power of the film lies.” (slantmagazine.com)

“Acquitting herself capably in a lead role that strips her bare in more ways than one, Robin Weigert (HBO’s “Deadwood”) proves worthy of a future in features, whereas first-time writer-director Stacie Passon mainly exposes her background in commercials. To the tune of David Bowie’s “Oh! You Pretty Things,” Passon opens the pic in a health club with well-off women literally spinning their wheels — suggesting, in the most obvious manner, the monotony of life for Weigert’s toned Abby and her rarefied clique. Inspired, it seems, by being hit in the head with her son’s baseball, fortyish Abby begins yearning to grow beyond housewifely duties in the picture-perfect home she shares with high-powered lawyer Kate (Julie Fain Lawrence) and their kids. But remodeling a Manhattan loft isn’t enough to turn her on, so it’s lucky for Abby that her handyman partner Justin (Johnny Tchaikovsky) works part-time as a pimp, an absurd implausibility that Passon has the nerve to play straight. After trying her hand as a paying customer in the first of several chaste sex scenes, Abby decides to take Justin up on his casual offer to find her some clients. Billing herself as Eleanor, Abby, who prefers to meet interested parties for coffee first, ends up providing her tasteful services to the likes of a plus-size college student; an initially gruff older dame who for some reason becomes a repeat customer; and, from her own tony ‘hood, the sexy Sam (Maggie Siff). Shot as if they were ads for high-thread-count bed sheets, the pic’s talky afternoon delights remain more flowery than erotic, and because the pic doesn’t stretch the characters dramatically, the sole intrigue of the movie becomes whether and how Kate will get wind of what her wife has really been doing in the city…” (Variety)