Magnolia Pictures debuted the official trailer for The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed, the comedy film following a 30-something New York woman in her long-term casual BDSM relationship, low-level corporate job, and quarrelsome Jewish family.

Starring in the film are Scott Cohen, Babak Tafti, Joanna Arnow, Alysia Reiner, Peter Vack, and Parish Bradley.

Release Date

Directed by Joanna Arnow, The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed world premiered at the 2023 Cannes’ Directors’ Fortnight, and opens in theaters on April 26, 2024.

Synopsis

Writer-director Joanna Arnow brings to her feature debut the singular, acerbic vision she pioneered in her shorts (Laying Out, Bad at Dancing) and her doc, i hate myself :). Her new film follows Ann (Arnow), a woman in her thirties stagnating in a long-term submissive sexual relationship with an older man, Allen (Scott Cohen). In a series of biting vignettes, Ann navigates the millennial trifecta of a dead-end corporate job, the online dating scene, and the struggle to keep the peace with a family constantly questioning her life choices.

Bored sexually and mildly disturbed that few of the people in her life know anything about her — Allen never remembers the college she was attending when they started dating a decade ago, and the employer she’s been with for three years congratulates her on a one-year hiring anniversary — Ann connects with new doms, each with a series of niche yet banal kinks. Eventually, she meets the caring Chris (Babak Tafti), who seems to offer a path towards a conventional and, more importantly, mutually engaged relationship. [TIFF]

Reviews

Indiewire review gave the film a B grade, writing, “This clever and disquieting indie unfolds at a clip somnambulant enough to match its lead’s spiritual stupor, whether she’s spreading her ass for her partners (clients?) or on the phone with her needling mother insisting that, no, she isn’t running out of breath despite trudging up and down the Manhattan streets. (She very much is, and running in place within her life.) Kneejerking viewers might draw a cross between Miranda July mumblecore and Lena Dunham unfilteredness here in terms of Arnow’s willingness to degrade herself on camera, but that’s a comparison the filmmaker would probably be annoyed over and one that elides the movie’s uniquely droll vibe.”

Official Trailer

Watch the official trailer for The Feeling That the Time for Doing Something Has Passed