First-time filmmakers Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean, who are making their feature directorial debut at TIFF with the non-linear romantic film “Charlie Harper,” are betting that audiences are ready for a nostalgic return to the optimism of 2008.
“Charlie Harper” centers on the complicated relationship between Charlie (Nick Robinson) and Harper (Emilia Jones) and unfolds in a non-linear way, illustrating the shifts in how they relate to one another over time. The romantic drama, which spans 15 years, is set during Barack Obama’s 2008 election victory and according to co-director and writer Dean, most won’t remember that era.
“It was such a different time compared to what we’re in now, that I think a big chunk of the audience that’ll see this movie won’t remember that era, and then we get to tell them a little bit about it through the stories that we get to tell,” Dean tells TheWrap.
“There’s a little throwaway line when Harper gets her job and they’re all partying at a bar, and one of the characters just casually throws out this line of ‘history doesn’t happen anymore,’” Eldridge added. “It was the sentiment of the post-Cold War 1990s, the end of history era that that generation was a little bit convinced they were kind of on this frictionless track toward a utopia.”
In her review of the film, TheWrap’s Elizabeth Weistzman wrote: “’So what’s the whole story?’ someone asks early in ‘Charlie Harper,’ a gently appealing romance from debut directors Mac Eldridge and Tom Dean. If the answer they come up with isn’t exactly unexpected, the path they take in getting there does feel fully sincere.”
The film’s non-linear structure is also a nod to Christopher Nolan. “We talked about Christopher Nolan’s ‘Following’ a lot, and the way that that plays with time,” Eldridge said.
