It's one of those dangerous things that your mother always told you to avoid—a long-distance relationship. But as foolish as they might be, most of us have tried to make it work in the past. Which is why most of us will get a voyeuristic thrill out "Night and Weekends," the latest from local indie filmmaker Joe Swanberg, and his leading lady and creative partner in crime, Greta Gerwig.

The pair met a few years back when Swanberg was making mumblecore linchpin "LOL" with Chris Wells, Gerwig's boyfriend at the time. When Wells decided to use several real voice mails from her in the film, Gerwig came along with the flick to SXSW, met Swanberg, and immediately starting working with him on "Young American Bodies," an episodic web series. Was it creative love at first sight? "Actually we kind of anti-click," she explains with a laugh. "But in a weird way that makes us work incredibly well together."

Their first feature collaboration, "Hannah Takes The Stairs," catapulted Gerwig into indie darling status and caught the attention of crowds craving an antidote to slick Hollywood fare. "I don't enjoy watching myself in it now," Gerwig admits, comparing the experience to screening old home videos. "There are some deeply dark moments that make it really uncomfortable."

While their follow-up was originally supposed to be about a happy couple facing a pregnancy scare—and an on-screen celebration of the fact that Swanberg and Gerwig were both in solid relationships—when they looked at the footage they realized that wasn't where the project was headed. "We were making another movie about the difficulties of their relationship," she explains. "Or—and I admit this sounds cheesy—maybe it was making us. We carefully abandoned a lot of what we had already shot and moved forward. I keep trying to make something funny but it always turns out sad!"

"Nights and Weekends" plays the Chicago International Film Festival on 10/20; view the trailer here.

- Caroline Stanley

Similar Topics:film, Film Festival, mumblecore

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