Top 100 Most Anticipated American Indie Films of 2018: #13. Tamara Jenkins’ Private Life

Private Life

She takes her time between projects and the great news late last year was the rollout of Private Life for Sundance 2018. Tamara Jenkins’ third feature film after Slums of Beverly Hills (1998) and The Savages (2007), takes on the human condition with a little bit of tristesse but a good dose of humor. We like her brand.

Starring Kathryn Hahn, Paul Giamatti, Molly Shannon, and Kayli Carter, an author (Hahn) is undergoing multiple fertility therapies to get pregnant, putting her relationship with her husband (Giamatti) on edge. They try to maintain their marriage as they descend deeper and deeper into the weird world of assisted reproduction and domestic adoption. When their doctor suggests third party reproduction, they bristle. But when Sadie, a recent college drop out, re-enters their life, they reconsider. Update: Our Nicholas Bell gave the film a pass citing “this lacks the biting self-awareness of her previous films, including 1998’s Slums of Beverly Hills, her first venture into lovingly drawn portraits of families who are as complex as their ongoing conundrums.”

Release Date/Prediction: A last minute addition to the Sundance Film Festival line-up in the Premieres section, the Netflix title will likely gather a bit more festival plays before hitting the channel.