Catching Feelings is a 2018 comedy following an urbane young academic and his beautiful wife, as their lives get turned upside down when a celebrated and hedonistic older writer moves into their home.
From South Africa comes a personal passion project from Kagiso Lediga, wearing a number of hats who brings a kind of old school commentary on life in the modern world. It’s a talky, expressive story with a dark edge that is as in-your-face brutal as it is authentic, tackling a few gut-punch issues with some comedic corners and lots of banter. It’s a unique little film that is meant to stir up some debate and mostly accomplishes what it intends.
Max Matsane (Lediga) is an English professor and writer married to journalist Sam (Pearl Thusi), the two content, on the cusp of deciding if they are ready to start a family. Living in the heart of Johannesburg, Max is a bit cynical, subtly critical of culture and race that often sour his relationships with friends and colleagues. Into their lives falls Heiner Miller (Andrew Buckland), an older writer with a decidedly decadent lifestyle, challenging the boundaries of their traditional marriage, his aggressively hedonistic approach to living seriously upsetting the already fragile stability.
There’s a purposeful bitterness to Lediga’s script and style, pitting the uptight and internally angry Max against the wildly antagonistic Heiner, who revels in the controversy that follows him like a cloud. He’s white, rich, and famous, which allows him to do what many can’t, leaving Max distasteful of his success, especially as he’s renowned for his writings on the struggle of black South Africans. Obviously, race jumps front and center as the two quite diversely different men spend more time together, Heiner taken by Max’s refreshingly brutal opinions of his work and personality. Naturally, they bond.
Women orbit every corner of the story, seen as conquests of desire or hurdles of fidelity, with Heiner and his obsessive need for sexual satisfactions putting Max in a state of chaos after the older man suffers a heart attack (Viagra induced of course) and recuperates with Max and Sam. Max can’t help but wonder what impact Heiner will have on Sam, especially when he is left alone with her. Of course Max isn’t so perfect himself, one eye wide open to the triggers of racism and inequality but the other closed to sexism and the role of women. This makes for some intriguing conflicts and dents in personality that give Catching Feelings a tasty modern feel with plenty of bite.
Where it stumbles is its length and pacing. Running over two hours, it tries to keep too many plates spinning without enough under them to make it all strike like it should. Lediga aims for a breezy, conversationally-driven experience, as if we’re eavesdropping on these people’s encounters, which sometimes leaves things a little lacking momentum. These are interesting characters, no doubt, and certainly, there is a lot to be said of the culture and insights we get as they navigate the ins and outs of their daily lives, and yet, despite some moments that hit the mark well, it lingers in a thin line between terrific dark comedy and soft modern commentary that too often deflates the impact. Kudos to Lediga, however, for the effort, which clearly reveals a filmmaker with a future.