Daddy Longlegs

MOVIE #1,234 •🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿🍿• 11.13.23 P̳a̳r̳t̳ ̳o̳f̳ ̳T̳H̳E̳ ̳S̳A̳F̳D̳I̳E̳ ̳B̳R̳O̳T̳H̳E̳R̳S̳ ̳D̳i̳r̳e̳c̳t̳o̳r̳ ̳F̳o̳c̳u̳s̳ The central incident in this is so fucked I felt like fast-forwarding just to get to whatever the resolution was gonna be. The loveable loser's plight becomes completely and unambiguously amoral. And yet the beauty of this movie is that you're still rooting for him, or, if not him, then the love he has for his kids, which is pure despite the copious levels of shit infiltrating and infecting his life. Ronald Bronstein (co-writer on this and all subsequent safdies) in the lead as Lenny is genius and it's a complete mystery why he hasn't acted more. This is the rare “dramedy” that’s funny without having a single, real “joke.” I absolutely loved it.

Daddy Longlegs is about a struggling father tasked with taking care of his two young sons over a two-week period in New York. Eschewing any traditional narrative structure in favor of scene after near-perfect scene where the end result might be these kids’ dying or them having the time of their life. The thin line between joy and pain is expertly painted, especially through the lens of a parent where — even if you can’t relate to the specifics here — that feeling of how heightened the stakes are in the day-to-day can seem unshakeable.

I don’t know how autobiographical this actually is, but it feels personal in a way that no other Safdies’ film has felt. The final shots of Lenny lugging a refrigerator onto the Roosevelt Island Tram with his two boys, having finally reached their breaking point, is as good an ending to a movie that you’ll ever see…


I found an odd hopefulness at the conclusion of this bleak and hilarious affair and, again, maybe it has something to do with being a parent myself. It made me think of the finale to Kelly Reichardt’s classic Old Joy. In that film, when we see Will Oldham wandering the streets of Portland aimlessly, you get the feeling that his fate is sealed. But you walk away from Daddy Longlegs thinking that Lenny — even if his destiny is literally making the wrong decision at every subsequent turn — is gonna keep on trying. No matter what.

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Daddy Longlegs is a 2009 American comedy-drama film directed by Josh and Benny Safdie. It stars Ronald Bronstein, Sage Ranaldo, and Frey Ranaldo. It tells the story of a divorced projectionist and his two sons. The film had its world premiere under the title Go Get Some Rosemary in the Directors' Fortnight section at the 2009 Cannes Film Festival on. It was released on May 16, 2009.