THE BRING OF— 4 STARS

The Brink of takes the name of the fictional indie singer-songwriter musical duo at the center of the movie. When the film begins, James (Tim Hoffmann) and Lena (Nicolette Norgaard) are sitting down for a radio interview returning from an unexplained multi-month hiatus. They experienced their “big break” only to summarily disappear before capitalizing on it. Curious wonderings about their recent silence fuse with the celebrated buzz of their return. Both of those sentiments come to a head at the same question everyone ponders when they see James and Lena perform together with chummy proximity, off-the-charts harmony, and piercing eye contact. 

LESSON #1: OBSERVING UNDENIABLE CHEMISTRY– After an in-studio performance of their breakout hit song “Sunny,” the radio show host (real-life fan culture specialist Yael Tygiel) gushes about their vocal symmetry and undeniable chemistry. The interviewer asks the big question about their romantic status: “Are you a couple?”  Their verbal answer of “We’ve always been just good friends” is congruous, but their body language is most certainly not. Watch her and then watch him, and you’ll see fascinating and intentional variance. 

Make no mistake. Unspoken history exists between Lena and James. At this recorded moment, they may or may not share the inquiring answer the host is hoping to extract. Nevertheless, there’s a story here that promises a long and difficult road merging togetherness and stardom. Using deft and economical storytelling, writer-director Patrick Meaney (House of Demons) has crafted The Brink Of to reveal this little melodrama nimbly.

During this interview framing device, The Brink Of chooses moments to go back and forth between their high school beginnings to their reconnection at a cabin retreat to collaborate after their auspicious sabbatical. When they first met, James was the popular guy with a pipes and talent his classmates swooned for, including Lena. After hearing one of Lena’s soulful poems in English class, James enlists her to hang around his band and write songs for them. There’s definitely some bashful pining from Lena, but James always has an arm candy squeeze around (at the time, it was Lindsay, played by Sara Silva from Taurus). Unearthing her own incredible voice rivaling that of James, Lena ascends to become the co-lead singer.  

The same lack of opportunity is the case in the more-present half of The Brink Of’s flashbacks. At the cabin, James brings his latest girlfriend– a wannabe influencer named Julia (Deathwell’s Mina Tobias)-- to what was supposed to be their isolated work vacation to hunker down for songwriting and album creation. The scenes in this setting have an air of tenuousness between Lena and James, punctuated by a line like, “Sorry about the way we left things.” That is the opposite of the vibrancy being shown from their younger years.

LESSON #2: CULTIVATING YOUR TALENT AND CHASING YOUR DREAMS– The journey of James and Lena giving up their post-college career plans to chase their dreams as starving artists traveling by car and scoring any gig they can in The Brink Of is a case of Patrick Meaney adapting an “art imitating life” example of stars Nicolette Norgaard (Her Deadly Boyfriend) and Tim Hoffmann (The Greatest Beer Run Ever). They wrote all of seven of the film’s gorgeous original songs (six made the final cut and most were performed live on set) and came together as touring musical act in much the same way as their characters. Norgaard and Hoffmann took the risks and made the leaps we’re watching for Lena and James while constantly fielding the same questions about their own real-life relationship status.

LESSON #3: THE BALANCE OF COLLABORATION– The subplot of The Brink Of is the maneuvering of the collaborative process and its scale of sacrifices and compromises. He’s looking to experiment and bring in exciting technical elements. She wants to run with the specialness, openness, and simplicity that got them where they are. Meaney plays this out cutely between the genuine friends when James writes down the goal of “a great fucking album,” while she correctly shifts that to say “a fucking great album.” At some point, certain steps and big decisions are going to mean something more to one than the other as they aim for genuineness as artists they can be proud of.

LESSON #4: ACTING ON LONG HELD FEELINGS–  All of this sumptuous musical work in The Brink Of happens underneath a volley of Cupid’s arrows. The romantic longing for meaningfulness internally is the alluring crescendo that goes with the melodic one already happening. The vibe of unrequited passion between Lena and James permeates every stirring verse and united moment of their divulged past. As aforementioned and in classic “Dude, how can you not see it?!” movie fashion, everyone can sense the attraction except James and his lack of commitment. Likewise, the demure Lena has ample “Girl, say something already!” chances to speak up and voice her long held feelings, but doesn’t. 

Because of this conundrum of slightly unnecessary happenstance, The Brink Of has its level of triteness and frustrations. In spite of that, you root for James and Lena as much as you admire and soak in their music. The movie shrewdly and impressively fits song performances and an entire relationship saga– complete with “will-they-or-won’t-they” mystery– spanning years in under 90 minutes with no fluff or lost priorities. 

LESSON #5: WHEN IS THE RIGHT TIME FOR LOVE AND DREAMS– Even in this short amount of shared time, the lofty allusion dangled throughout the smart cross-cutting of turning points composed by Meaney is whether artists working this closely and singing lyrics this intimate can separate or maintain a creative connection and a personal one. Orchestrated fate within The Brink Of asks if there is a right time and place for love and dreams. The complicated answer is the movie itself and its grand arc. The simpler answer is anytime these two leads want to step to a microphone. The magic comes out right then and there, blurred lines and all.