Alan J. Pakula directs Meryl Streep, Peter MacNicol and Kevin Kline in this drama about a young writer who falls for a troubled couple from the upstairs  of his boarding house – a turbulent drunk and a Polish holocaust survivor. 

Brilliant early acting from Streep and Kline, a worthy attempt by Hollywood to fathom the Holocaust and some nice Brooklyn location work are a little undermined by the unusual focus on MacNicol’s narrator. His story should serve as a mere framing device but instead overwhelms the running time. Each time we get hooked into the powerful drama and captivating central romance we keep shifting back to a wannabe writer’s desire to fuck a tragic figure  so he can type his pretentious literature a bit more believably.

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