Netflix’s The Forty-Year-Old Version – An Authentic Slice-of-Life Dramedy (Early Review)

No other film arguably made a bigger splash at this year’s Sundance Film Festival than Radha Blank’s feature directorial debut than The Forty-Year-Old Version. It became a surprise hit, earning Blank a dramatic directing award along with a dramatic grand jury prize nomination, not to mention an acquisition by Netflix. If anything, the film is living proof that one is never too old to pursue their dreams as one’s perseverance and commitment to one’s art can pay off. Perhaps this message was what resonated so well back then but this will surely be the same now that the film is available to a wider audience. In the end, what made it all work so well was the charisma of Blank who absolutely lights up the screen while playing a fictional character loosely based on her own life in a story that she wrote that was loosely based on her own past struggles. Blank succeeds by creating not only a compelling though also an authentic and immersive slice-of-life experience that grabs audiences right away and pulls them into her journey.

As mentioned, The Forty-Year-Old Version interestingly uses black-and-white cinematography to tell the story of Radha Blank, a struggling NYC area playwright on the verge of turning 40 years old and quite a ways beyond her former glory. She still had an important voice but the changing times in the theatre world made it increasingly difficult to be heard. Nevertheless, Blank kept chugging along and kept working to get her latest gentrification play produced while trying to make ends meet along with her friend and agent Archie (Kim). Meanwhile, she was a theatre teacher at a high school in Harlem where her students presented their own set of challenges. All of these certainly took a toll on her. Blank essentially refound herself once she discovered the world of hip hop music, assuming the alter ego of RadhaMUSPrime. Little did she know, she was pretty good at it as it helped her to open her eyes to the world around her and to further find her voice. Both the theatre world and the hip hop world were very different worlds and that contrast was fun to explore thanks to Blank’s fun personality. Her arrival in the Brooklyn hip hop scene definitely stuck out, it slowly but surely softened under the tutelage of a well-known DJ and producer known as D (Benjamin).

The Forty-Year-Old Version saw Blank trapped between these two worlds but it was clear that these worlds would inevitably collide and that she would have to choose one or the other. In other words, the person she was and the comfortable world she knew or the person she became and a not so certain future. Though her journey of self-discovery was a compelling one and one full of hilarious moments, serving as a satire of the snobbery and casual racism of the New York theatre scene, and a surprising amount of drama, the impact of that realization was an effective one. Perhaps the best part of the film was its honest and authentic depiction of grief and what it meant to be an older and larger black woman with unique fixations and faults and would go on tangents as a result of them (it’s counter of coming-of-age conventions was also a nice touch). Conversely, the biggest sticking point here is how the film stumbles the landing in an attempt to tie up its many subplots, causing the film to drag near the end. With a running time of just over 2 hours, the film could have streamlined its ending.

Ultimately, the best part of The Forty-Year-Old Version was Blank’s stellar performance as a fictional version of herself. Her infectious charisma and personality single-handedly propels the film, making her an absolute blast to watch. Blank courageously puts herself literally front and center for better or worse. It felt like we were simply watching her and not a character which means a lot. Meanwhile, her chemistry with Kim’s Archie spawned some hilarious moments while her chemistry with Benjamin as D made for a fun relationship. It was too bad that we did not get enough of the latter. Also, Jacob Ming-Trent was a scene-stealer as a homeless man living outside of Blank’s apartment.

At the end of the day, The Forty-Year-Old Version is a feel-good watch which proves that Radha Blank is a name worth keeping an eye on in the future.

still courtesy of Netflix

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.