This is a pure drama. Like a real life event, though there's no documentary style narration influenced. Thematically very, very simple, and also the characters, but too flat when it comes to entertainment value. Of course, drama-films usually does not entertain its viewers, except for who are ardent fans of that genre. Apart from depicting the real life, sometimes they carry messages with them. But this film has no tick marks on any of those boxes. So it is a boring film if you pick it to watch when you're on the average or in the bad mood. I did not feel that way, just hinting out it could do that for others.The storyline had no focal point. It is neither a children's film, nor about the grownups' issues. But kind of mix of both on a small scale with strong outcome. Pretty much like on the two topics it was developed on. One was the 'death' which initiated everything and followed by the 'shop' that helped to make further progress in the tale. So using these, the film characters bloomed. Even though, these topics come into play occasionally and in the meantime, the scenes were wasted or you can say it followed the character to their daily routine to fill the film runtime.So what's that mean is the screenplay, which was not at its best. It does not follow the traditional film way on the character developments. Like I expected the friendship between two boys like how they find each other as to emerge a strong bond. That did not happen. It was just like I said in the real life, too casual and understandable.The same goes for the adult characters as well. When they decide to handle the shop issue, it was like hesitation like any average concerned family does. So this film will be good if your life is/was close to the events in the film. Like either it is your friendship that tested or dealing the sensitive issue as a grown-up that affects deeply those concerned ones.❝Once again, our warm, lovable, unwise father has left us a big mess and no instructions.❞Now you might think what this film is all about. This is the story of the two families connected with a building. Opens with a small Manhattan family arriving in Brooklyn to conduct the last rite to their deceased father. They are received by another family who rented the shop in the ground floor. Both the family has the young boys of the same age and following the ceremony, the two become very close. But when their parents decide to sort out the shop issue, it's all fall hard on them and their friendship. The remaining is to reveal the outcome of whatever happened.You might be familiar with the quote that goes like this, 'a friendship founded on business in better than a business founded on friendship'. Basically, that's where the film inspired from. But it expanded to two sets of the characters, between the youngsters and the adults. These two categories are exactly opposite in mindset. Youngsters usually does not care about money that involves friends, but for adults, money is a serious matter to handle. The 'business' is attached to the parents and the 'friendship' drawn between their children.Now that's the complication involves as many people as to solve without affecting anybody. But most of the film was overwhelmed by scenes of other than this issue. They ignored to focus completely on where it had calibre. I felt the casting was the best thing happened in the film, particularly those boys. Alfred Molina, who played one of the main characters in the director's previous film was appeared here in a guest role for like a minute. The rest of them were decent as well, including Greg Kinnear.The film was just under the 90 minutes, yet too slow paced narration. Does not fit for everyone to watch. Imagine if this film was played on the television, with all the commercial breaks, you won't able to finish it off. Not without patience, because it is already dull, and if you will run out that, that's it. A lot like a product for the film festivals and it did fared decently on those platforms, but surely some people would find it good. So now you might think what my stance is. I liked it, also didn't. An average film with a slipped away opportunity. I am not sure, but still feel like I want to suggest it.5/10

This is a very moving, quiet little story about the friendship between two sensitive, artistic boys. It's a realistic but somehow very sweet portrayal of life in Brooklyn, and how the problems of adults can affect their children. The entire cast is first-rate and the performances of the two boys were outstanding - Michael Barbieri is one to watch out for in the future and Theo Taplitz was also excellent.

I found this to be a quiet and effective indie drama, with characters and dialogue that came across to me as real. It contains excellent acting, very able direction (Ira Sachs), and a sharp screenplay from Sachs and Mauricio Zacharias.After the passing of his father, Brian Jardine (Greg Kinnear), his wife Kathy (Jennifer Ehle), and their 13-year-old son Jake (Theo Taplitz) relocate from Manhattan to the apartment left to Brian (and his sister) by his dad. They'll also be the new landlords for the store below the apartment, a small dress shop.The dress shop is owned and operated by Leonor Calvelli (Paulina Garcia), who lives nearby with her son Tony (Michael Barbieri) Leonor was very close with Brian's father and he made sure her store rent stayed the same, despite the new bohemian upsurge in the neighborhood. I might mention seeing Garcia here reminded me of her mesmerizing performance in the 2013 movie "Gloria". By the way if you're expecting to see a lot of the superb actor Alfred Molina, he only appears briefly in 2 scenes as Leonor's friend and attorney.One of the main themes of the film will be the immediate friendship that springs up between Tony and Jake. They both aspire to go to LaGuardia High School for Performing Arts, with Tony for acting and Jake for illustration and art.With the dress shop lease coming due and Brian being under financial pressure, as well as pressure from his sister, the proposal to bring the rent up to market conditions for the struggling small business will bring immediate friction and tension to the 2 families' relationships, and especially the strong bonding that had developed between the two teens Jake and Tony.All in all, my interest was captured from the start by this quietly powerful drama and its believable characters, and I was engrossed till its conclusion.

I think this is the best Sachs film I've seen yet. In many ways, it feels more like a French film, or Japanese. And yet, like Linklater's "Boyhood" it is quintessentially American--far more truly American than all those violent and overwrought Hollywood blockbusters. It is IN America and ABOUT America in a way that most of Hollywood isn't. What makes it so wonderful is that it finds what is important in the minutiae of ordinary life. It's a trivial movie in the sense that it is about the trivia of life, but it is great in the sense that it draws out what is humanly important and beautiful and moving in that trivia. Personally, I find most of what Hollywood produces dead boring- -collections of clichés clamoring for attention and thrills, but with no heart and nothing to say. Rather than make stuff up (copying what others have made up before) this film observes what is.Wong Kar-wai's "In the Mood for Love" is probably one of the most turgid movies of all time--slow, uneventful--but it is also one of the most beautiful and memorable and arresting. This movie is not as staggeringly beautiful, but it has the same capacity to find what is beautiful in the ordinary--in OUR lives, not in Captain Marvel's or Superman's or Batman's. This film is about life, and it affirms life. We could use way more of this kind of film.