Oh dear! I thought I shared this, but, uh, looks like I didn’t! So here it is, my review of Brian Crano’s Permission, which is maybe the only Valentine’s Day movie anyone needed this year. (Maybe also The Shape of Water. Or Phantom Thread.) I rather liked this, with a couple of specific reservations, but those aside it’s solid, astute, and clear-eyed storytelling about the big what-ifs people agonize over in their relationships. The most important of these is the “what if I’ve denied myself experiences by staying with my significant other for so long” what-if, which is also the what-if that drives the plot. (The other is “what if I never get to be a parent,” resigned to a slimmer but no less moving subplot.) I might give it another look someday – it strikes me as the kind of movie that improves on rewatches – but for now I’ll still give it a hearty recommendation, and also implore you to read my review at Paste Magazine.
A Constant Visual Feast 