So far, the 28-year-old Brooklyn actress Jess Weixler has been building a very strong film resume without breaking through in a major Hollywood studio film.
For the past couple of years, she’s been an indie queen in the tradition of Parker Posey, who seemed to dominate the Sundance Film Festival for much of the 1990s.
Weixler’s 2009 Sundance film, “Peter and Vandy,” didn’t get much of a theatrical release, but it is debuting on DVD today and is very much worth renting.
Written and directed by Jay DiPietro, the film gives us a fractured portait of a New York couple’s turbulent love affair — the scenes are shuffled in a manner reminiscent of last year’s indie hit, “(500) Days of Summer.”
DiPietro’s movie isn’t as slick as “Summer,” but it is a very interesting portait of a relationship, viewed from angles we never see in a Hollywood romantic comedy.
“By first seeing their future, we can fully understand what is happening in the past…and vice versa,” DiPietro said in a director’s statement in the press notes.
Weixler is wonderful as Vandy and she is well-matched by Jason Ritter as Peter. She works in a downtown gallery and he is trying to make it as an architect.
“Peter and Vandy” includes many of the hallmarks of a traditional romantic comedy — a “meet cute” scene, a stormy break-up, an unexpected post-break-up meeting — but by shuffling the deck the emotions in each scene are heightened in a way that makes the couple’s joys and sorrows more interesting. We have to work a little harder watching this movie, but the rewards of that closer attention are greater than anything you’d get from “Leap Year” or “When in Rome.”
Weixler has the good looks and charm that are standard equipment for a romantic comedy lead, but the actress’s theater background and her life in New York City have allowed her to connect with the character of Vandy in a deeper way.
With “Peter and Vandy” and another 2009 New York low-budget film, “Alexander the Great,” Weixler has demonstrated that she has the chops to carry a movie. Now, the question is: Will Hollywood make use of this extraordinary young actress?
