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‘Fantasy Life’ Review: Writer/Director/Actor Matthew Shear Takes His Own Anxieties And Turns Into A Triple-Threat Filmmaker – SXSW


A review of 'Fantasy Life' , the writing and directing debut of Matthew Shear who also stars in this NY-centric comedy about an anxiety-ridden manny.

Assembling a dream cast of actors who know how to deliver this kind of New York Jewish-centric character-driven comedy that Woody Allen trademarked and others like Baumbach have also travelled in so successfully, Shear actually seems to me to be more of a modern day Richard Benjamin who also turned into a fine filmmaker in his own right. That seems to be the trajectory here except Shear is clearly cribbing from his own life and experience with depression, anxiety, and self-admitted mental illness to craft, however loosely, a character teetering on the edge and a story close to his own world. Cast: Matthew Shear, Amanda Peet, Alessandro Nivola, Judd Hirsch, Bob Balaban, Andrea Martin, Zosia Mamet, Jessica Harper, Holland Taylor, Sheng Wang, Sophie von Haselberg.

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matthew shear