The brand-new film Brittany Runs a Marathon is about a woman who reduces weight and finds happiness. In a period in which body-positivity activists have actually been striving to assist women uncouple their sense of self-regard from the numbers on a scale, that's one questionable plot.
It's likewise an over-simplification of the motion picture, which is mindful of the risks of fat fear and body-shaming. Writer-director Paul Downs Collazio includes scenes and dialogue plainly implied to challenge the concept that ladies have to shed pounds in order to find love and success. That the movie's protagonist end up following that trajectory anyway isn't so much an indictment of Brittany Runs a Marathon as it is an indication of simply how difficult it is to browse the individual and political topic of weight-loss.
At the film's start, Brittany's issue isn't that she's dissatisfied with her weight particularly; she's dissatisfied with her life. Brittany, played with empathy and wit by Jillian Bell, is a 27-year-old working at a low-paying, dead-end job at a theater. Her social life is a string of late nights and heavy drinking with her New York City roomie, a self-indulgent Instagram influencer. (Is there any other kind?).
Like so many individuals who fight with insecurities, Brittany cracks jokes at her own expenditure so that others don't arrive initially.
Brittany is outwardly pleasant and energetic, and good friends tell her that she's the funniest individual they understand. But Bell's subtle cues-- a flinch after her roommate's callous remark, a flash of vulnerability in her eyes when a guy flirting with her at a bar turns salacious-- let the audience know that Brittany's humor is a type of self-defense. Thus many individuals who deal with insecurities, Brittany cracks jokes at her own expense so that others don't get there initially.
When she pays a check out to the medical professional in an attempt to get an illegal Adderall prescription, Brittany's weight emerges as a central plot point. Rather, the doctor declares that he's worried about her BMI (an oft-criticized procedure of health, for what it's worth), as well as her hypertension and elevated resting heart rate. He instructs her to lose between 45 and 55 pounds. "That's the weight of a Siberian husky," Brittany notes wryly. "You want me to pull a medium-sized working pet dog off of my body.".
The motion picture bewares to have the medical professional acknowledge that some people are fat since of genes or thyroid problems, and that it's possible to be both healthy and fat. Brittany, nevertheless, hasn't been prioritizing nutrition and exercise. Therefore, with authentic, relatable worry-- working out in public can be daunting, especially when you have a body that tends to be the target of analysis and criticism-- Brittany begins running.
From the moment Brittany's sneakers initially touch the pavement, great things occur. She joins a running group, where she finds buddies who actually care about her. They decide to train for the New York City marathon together, a goal that becomes increasingly significant to Brittany as a sign of her ability to take control of her life. Because she's got to wake up early for runs, she cuts down on the drinking and starts getting more sleep. And to make more loan for cross-training at the fitness center and other marathon-related expenditures, Brittany gets a house-sitting gig-- which leads her to a guy she's first exacerbated by and after that, undoubtedly, attracted to, a directionless charmer named Jern (Utkarsh Ambudkar).
Exercise makes our heroine feel stronger, healthier, and more optimistic: So far, so uncontroversial. However Brittany also ends up being visibly slimmer over the course of the film, which includes a repeating motif in which her bare feet appear on a digital scale with numbers heading ever-closer to her objective weight. (Bell trained for a marathon in order to prepare for the role, and lost 40 pounds herself at the same time; she used prosthetics for Brittany's earlier scenes.).
Since we're seeing Brittany through her own unforgiving eyes, the cam also seems to urge us to scan Brittany's body for defects.
In some scenes, Brittany looks in a state of peaceful, pleased shock at the image of herself in a top that's now too big for her, extending the extra material. In others, she drops the laundry she's holding to look at her mostly-naked body in the mirror, or beings in front of her laptop computer with her chin tilted to the side, taking selfies of her recently altered jawline.