Roland E. Zwick Joe Swanberg's "Hannah Takes the Stairs" is a low-budget art-film done in a quasi-improvisational style. It centers around a group of self-absorbed twenty-somethings who spend most of their time sitting around discussing life and relationships as if such subjects had never been talked about before. The result is a sometimes insightful but more often tedious look into the mindset of today's younger generation.Hannah (Greta Gerwig) is a neo-Bohemian playwright with poor instincts when it comes to men, who, upon dumping her ne'er-do-well musician boyfriend, immediately strikes up romances with two fellows at the obviously loosey-goosey TV production company where she works. The movie strives hard to be as extemporaneous as possible both in its performances and its direction, and while that does yield a few moments of truth and honesty along the way (the break-up scene is almost painfully convincing), too much of the movie is simply vapid and self-indulgent, with a trio of perfectly able-bodied young folk puling and mewling and whining about life to the point where we just don't care to listen to them anymore.With no real plot or storyline to speak of, watching "Hannah Takes the Stairs" is a bit like staring at someone else's random doodlings for an hour-and-a-half and finding no real reason why we should care about them. And, oh yes, unless I missed it, no actual staircase appears in the movie, with or without Hannah going up or down it. I guess it must be metaphorical.

jwiffy Hannah Takes The Stairs has poor production values, a slow pace, boring locations, and no actors you have ever heard of, and that's what makes this film so special. This is clearly a film made by a group of friends and artists, exploring their lives and the art of film-making simultaneously. It's simplistic rawness allows for an honest, and at times voyeuristic tone that examines the simple difficulties of young people learning to make grown-up decisions. This film is certainly not for everyone, but if you can forgive the ultra-low budget blemishes it is very worthwhile. In many ways, Hannah Takes the Stairs is the future of film-making that Francis Ford Coppola predicted in Hearts of Darkness.

KawaiiKiwi When the movie started, with the amateur filming and uninteresting boobies scene, I almost turned it off right away. I ended up watching more, and really got into it. Of course it's nothing special, it's filmed like a low-budget TV series, but what makes it interesting is that it feels real. The characters are real, the story is real, the problems are real. I felt like I was watching a reality show with people who have relationship issues that I could relate to. Obviously, if you don't like reality shows, chances are you probably won't like this. Hannah was fun to watch, although she's a bit annoying at times. Overall I really enjoyed this simplistic home movie, it was very pleasant and real. The only thing I disliked was how it ended so abruptly, I wanted more!

doug1967_1 What's the cheapest way to make a movie? Have two actors in a room talk to each other. That seems to be the case with "Hannah Takes the Stairs", an ultra-low budget film making the rounds in the art house theatres.The film is rather claustrophobic since most of the action takes place in just a few rooms, with what appears to be the occasional "stolen shot" outside. I say stolen because filming permits in a big city are rather expensive and the outdoor set ups have a "quick, get the shot and get out before the cops see us" feel to them (these shots only run a few seconds, which is the main indication).The characters talk about their lives and work, talk some more, have sex, talk some more, talk, talk, etc. The occasional nude scene keeps the audience awake, but with no real story to propel the film along I found it to be quite a snoozer.Not too surprisingly, all dialog was improvised—-and it shows. Scenes ramble on for quite some time and even though the film is less than an hour-and-a-half, it seems quite longer.Filmmakers, please write a script and actually have a plot. Without it, the most attractive actors and locations in the world aren't worth much if you can't keep your audience interested.