''Late Bloomers'' is a 2023 American

comedy drama Comedy drama (also known by the portmanteau dramedy) is a hybrid genre of works that combine elements of comedy and Drama (film and television), drama. In film, as well as scripted television series, serious dramatic subjects (such as death, il ...

film, directed by Lisa Steen in her directorial debut, from a screenplay by Anna Greenfield. It stars

Karen Gillan Karen Sheila Gillan (; born 28 November 1987) is a Scottish actress and filmmaker. She gained recognition for her work in British film and television, particularly for playing Amy Pond, a primary companion to the Eleventh Doctor in the scien ...

, Margaret Sophie Stein, Jermaine Fowler,

Talia Balsam Talia Balsam (born 1959) is an American television and film actress. Early life Talia Balsam was born in New York City in 1959, to actors Martin Balsam and Joyce Van Patten. Her ancestry is Russian Jewish (father) and Italian, Dutch, and Engl ...

and

Kevin Nealon Kevin Nealon (; born November 18, 1953) is an American comedian and actor. He has earned a Primetime Emmy Award nomination and two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He first gained widespread attention during his tenure as a cast member on ...

Principal photography Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production. Personnel Besides the main film personnel, such as the ...

took place in New York. The film had its world premiere at

South by Southwest South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

on March 10, 2023, and was released on June 7, 2024, by Vertical.

Synopsis

Louise, an aimless twenty-eight year old musician who is recently single, is injured when she drunkenly breaks her hip. The subsequent physical therapy sees her associate with elderly people, and she meets Antonina, a Polish lady who speaks no English, and is hired to be her caretaker.

Cast

as Louise * Margaret Sophie Stein as Antonina * Jermaine Fowler as Brick *

as Dorothy *

as Al * Lori Tan Chinn as Inez * Michelle Twarowska as Sylvia

Production

The script was written by Anna Greenfield and based on her personal experiences. Greenfield collaborated on the film with Lisa Steen, whom she had known since college. In July 2022, Karen Gillan, Margaret Sophie Stein, and Jermaine Fowler were revealed to have joined the cast, and principal photography was said to have wrapped in Brooklyn, New York. The film was produced by We're Doin' Great and Park Pictures.

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival The 2023 South by Southwest Film & TV Festival took place from March 10 to 19 at several venues in Austin, Texas, as part of the larger South by Southwest annual event. The film program opened with fantasy heist comedy film '' Dungeons & Dragons: ...

Festival in

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

on March 10, 2023. In March 2024, Vertical acquired distribution rights to the film. It was released on June 7, 2024.

Reception

Critical reception

In ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. It is updated several times a day, with en ...

'', Damon Wise described ''Late Bloomers'' as "an intimate, defiantly female-fronted indie, showcasing an engaging and refreshingly vanity-free performance from Karen Gillan". Jason Bailey of ''The Playlist'' felt the film was predictable in places and had familiar tropes, but described it as "about as well-acted and enjoyable a version of this particular thing as you're likely to find." Samantha Bergeson of '' IndieWire'' gave the film a grade of D, writing that "the film doesn't open up in time to blossom into something great", and its "whispers of emotional depth…come too little and too late."

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Late Bloomers 2023 films 2023 comedy-drama films 2023 directorial debut films 2023 independent films Films set in Brooklyn 2020s female buddy films Vertical (film company) films 2020s English-language films American independent films English-language independent films English-language buddy comedy-drama films