Anesthesia (2016)

A philosophy professor (Sam Waterston) is stabbed several times during a mugging. Attempting to escape, he randomly buzzes an apartment for help. The apartment he's buzzing houses a married man (Corey Stoll) and the woman (Mickey Sumner) he's having an affair with. At this point, the narrative goes into flashback mode where we see the events leading up to the attack. Written and directed by actor turned director Tim Blake Nelson (O BROTHER WHERE ART THOU), who plays Waterston's son. It's an ensemble piece with a cast of (mostly) talented actors in a film that could justifiably be called pretentious but I liked Nelson's attempt, flawed as it may be, to bring a thought provoking eye to a contemporary society that seems adrift in a malaise where rage takes the place of honest communication. The large cast includes Glenn Close, Kristen Stewart, Gretchen Mol, Richard Thomas, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Hannah Marks, Gloria Reuben and in a superb performance, K. Todd Freeman as a man with a brilliant mind but now a desperate junkie.