The Mysteries of Pittsburgh
Directed by Rawson Marshall Thurber
Runtime: 95 min.
Somehow, even as writer-director Rawson Marshall Thurber slathers on the voiceover ooze or unwittingly evokes Sophie’s Choice with his central romantic triangle (beautiful blonde loved by two men—one a charismatic lunatic, the other a boy becoming a man), he still manages to astonish with The Mysteries of Pittsburgh.
The first surprise comes with the first glimpse of that self-important narrator, recent college graduate Art Bechstein (Jon Foster). In a time when younger leading men are either schlubs (Seth Rogen) or character actors (Paul Dano), Foster’s striking leading man looks are a welcome relief, a throwback to old Hollywood glamour.
But more impressively, Thurber manages to accomplish what he set out to do when he first began his adaptation of Michael Chabon’s The Mysteries of Pittsburgh novel: despite its ‘80s setting, the film has the feel of everyone’s perfect summer. With the help of cinematographer Michael Barrett, Thurber has perfectly captured the look of a memory. Sunlight never glares; if rain falls, it never ruins a summer’s day. Life is as it should have been, even as Art works a dead-end job and he and his new friend Cleveland (Peter Sarsgaard) inch inexorably closer to the machinations of Art’s gangster father (a gruff and whispery Nick Nolte). Art’s summer— despite its gangster interludes and bisexual escapades—becomes everyone’s first summer free of school, before jobs become full-time commitments and choices don’t seem irrevocable.
Along for the ride is Cleveland’s girlfriend Jane (Sienna Miller, reprising her performance from Factory Girl in a minor key). A hard-partying, beautiful blonde, Jane lets Miller shine in the way too few of her previous film roles have. Never overplaying Jane's party-girl aspect, while letting her vulnerability peep through with increasing intensity, Miller makes Art’s instant infatuation with her seem perfectly natural, even over a slice of pie at the kind of rundown diner that may never have existed outside of an Edward Hopper painting.
Despite his growing attraction to Jane, however, Art also feels drawn to Cleveland, whom he discovers receiving a blowjob early in the film. Thurber wisely plays his cards close to the vest when it comes to Art’s burgeoning attraction to Cleveland, resorting to neither exploitation nor shock value as the two friends teeter on the verge of something more.
In a film that could have become a loud, painful addition to the already overflowing shelf of coming-of-age films, Thurber chooses to focus on the delicate, quiet moments in Art’s summer, emphasizing a swift, heartbroken look on Miller’s face, or infusing a sex scene with the giddy feeling that only occurs for a few golden years in your early twenties. Infused with poignant melancholy, The Mysteries of Pittsburgh does what films ought to do: It creates a world and a group of friends that one longs to be a part of.
