Musician, comedian, and director Isabel Hagen appears before us with On a String, an independent production that she directed and starred in, whose atmosphere and spirit recall Greta Gerwig’s collaborations with Joe Swanberg, and offers us the opportunity to discover the ordinariness of everyday life and the comic energy hidden within that ordinariness.
Isabel is a Juilliard-trained violist (or was it violinist?). In New York, she works as a freelance musician, playing every kind of gig from weddings to funerals. Together with her string quartet, they make music at private events and various organizations, even though no one pays them enough attention. I must say, in a film about musicians, seeing the actors actually play their instruments instead of just vaguely moving their fingers is a truly refreshing experience. The fact that Hagen herself is a Juilliard-trained violist and has worked professionally as a musician naturally makes this aspect of the film much more authentic.
The film never turns into one of those bad movies where stand-up comedians tell their own stories. Even though it contains similar themes from the filmmaker’s life, those films usually transform into character comedies because they come from the hands of people who are used to constantly talking and making jokes, and essentially become another show by the stand-up comedian. But as I said, On a String is not that kind of film, and it is clear that it was made with genuine cinematic passion. Even its humor is done from a realistic place that accompanies the film rather than being the main element, allowing us to witness the oddities of daily life. Even the opening scene, in which Isabel has been hired to play the viola at a marriage proposal that goes badly, shows from the very first scene how clever the film’s sense of humor is.
The film does not have a clear narrative that we can say “this is what it is about” or “this is the plot it has.” Like what we often see in indie films and European cinema, it is a calm and simple story that falls outside the classical storytelling formulas we are used to from American cinema, in which we remotely witness a section of the character’s life. Of course, developments occur in Isabel’s life; her ex-boyfriend reappears, some professional opportunities come her way, and her problems with her relationships and family continue. However, the film does not place any of these into a traditional dramatic structure.
I must say that Isabel Hagen is definitely a very good observer. Since I am also a musician myself (yes, I had to say that), being able to understand many of the things she experiences—including the problems within the industry and the human relations aspect—shows how good an observer she is. At the same time, being able to see the comedy within these certain absurdities is no small skill. After all, what you need to be a good comedian is to see the comedy within the ordinary things of daily life. Isabel Hagen does this not only as a comedian but also as a good filmmaker. I think the most important success of On a String lies exactly here. Even though the film draws from Hagen’s own life and experiences as a musician, it never turns this into a show of “look how funny my life is.” She is able to look at her own experiences from the outside, and thanks to this, she can capture both the absurdities of the world of musicianship and the small oddities of people’s everyday lives. A significant part of the sincerity you feel while watching the film also comes from this.
