''Anesthesia'' is a 2015 American indie

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

written, produced and directed by

Tim Blake Nelson Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor, writer, and director. Described as a "modern character actor", his roles include Delmar O'Donnell in ''O Brother, Where Art Thou?'' (2000), Gideon in ''Minority Report (film), Minori ...

. Nelson stars in the film with

Sam Waterston Samuel Atkinson Waterston (born November 15, 1940) is an American actor. Waterston is known for his work in theater, television, and film. He has received numerous accolades including a Primetime Emmy Award, Golden Globe Award, and Screen Actor ...

Kristen Stewart Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress and director. She has received various accolades, including a British Academy Film Award and a César Award, in addition to nominations for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe ...

Glenn Close Glenda Veronica Close (born March 19, 1947) is an American actress. In a career spanning over five decades on Glenn Close on screen and stage, screen and stage, she has received List of awards and nominations received by Glenn Close, numerous ac ...

Gretchen Mol Gretchen Mol (born November 8, 1972) is an American actress. She is known for her role as Gillian Darmody in the HBO series '' Boardwalk Empire'' (2010–2014). She also appeared in the films ''Rounders'' (1998), ''Celebrity'' (1998), ''The Thir ...

, and

Corey Stoll Corey Daniel Stoll (born March 14, 1976) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Congressman Peter Russo on the Netflix political thriller series ''House of Cards'' (2013–2016), for which he received a Golden Globe nomination in ...

. The film premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

on April 22, 2015. The film was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few cinemas across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos, television shows and films Digital distribution, digitally on request. These multimedia are accessed without a traditional video playback device and a typica ...

IFC Films Independent Film Company (formerly IFC Films) is an American film production and distribution company based in New York City, New York. It is an offshoot of IFC (U.S. TV channel), IFC, owned by AMC Networks. It mainly distributes independent fil ...

on January 8, 2016.

Plot

Philosophy professor Walter Zarrow is wounded during a mugging. To escape, he rings buzzers indiscriminately, waking Sam, a middle-aged father of two having an affair in the city. Sam reluctantly answers Zarrow's pleas, and Zarrow loses consciousness in his arms. Through an exploration of why these men, along with the mugger, and an addict named Joe, come together, we explore New York City. The experience of Zarrow, Sam, Joe, and Zarrow's assailant ripple quickly out to include the connected lives of a housewife struggling with

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

, a stoner teen desperate to lose his virginity, a brilliant but failed writer fighting addiction, two parents confronting the prospect of

terminal illness Terminal illness or end-stage disease is a disease that cannot be cured or adequately treated and is expected to result in the death of the patient. This term is more commonly used for progressive diseases such as cancer, rather than fatal injur ...

, and a brilliant grad student who harms herself to feel alive.

Cast

Production

The filming took place in November 2013 in

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

Release

The film had its world premiere at 2015

on April 22, 2015. Shortly after,

acquired U.S distribution rights. The film was released in a

and through

on January 8, 2016.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, ''Anesthesia'' has a score of 27% with an average rating of 4.8/10, based on 45 reviews. The website's critics consensus reads: "''Anesthesias incredible cast is wasted on a sloppily-assembled drama whose grand ambitions are undermined by a flawed screenplay."

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

gives the film a score of 55 out of 100, sampled from 19 reviews, signifying "mixed or average" reviews. ''Anesthesia'' premiered at the 2015

to generally positive reviews. Dan Callahan of ''

TheWrap ''TheWrap'' is an American online news organization that covers the business of entertainment and media. It was founded by journalist Sharon Waxman in 2009 and is based in Los Angeles. The site features original reporting, analysis, and editor ...

'' gave the film a positive review and praised the performances: "Writer-director

avoids sentimentality in a contemporary drama suffused with anger and vitality" and "It is the anger that runs through 'Anesthesia' that gives it its flavor, its mood, and its ultimate gravity. This film demands to be taken very seriously, and it earns that right. The woebegone despair that is ever-present in Nelson’s face on screen also suffuses the best of his writing here as well as in his direction of Stewart, with whom he joins forces very dynamically." John DeFore of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' wrote: "Any viewer entering the film without wanting to hug Waterston will have a crush by the picture's end, with the actor perfectly embodying a flavor of learned humanism that carries us through a couple of more abstractly angst discussions of society's decay." David D'Arcy of ''

Screen International ''Screen International'' is a British film magazine covering the international film business. It is published by Media Business Insight, a British B2B media company which also owned '' Broadcast''. The magazine is primarily aimed at those involv ...

'' praised the film as well: "This finely acted, tender, drama is one of the surprises of the Tribeca Film Festival" and "No surprise, acting is the film’s most obvious strength. Probably due to a low budget and the many schedules that Nelson had to juggle, the style is remarkably natural."

References

External links

* {{Tim Blake Nelson 2015 films American independent films Films directed by Tim Blake Nelson Films scored by Jeff Danna Films shot in New York City 2015 drama films American drama films 2015 independent films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films Films about self-harm English-language independent films