One of the great things about college town life, in my experience, is being plugged into a constant source of youthful energy and enthusiasm. In the spring especially, I like to walk around Chapel Hill and the UNC campus just to recharge my psychic batteries. It reminds me of my own undergraduate days, when life seemed full of promise and purpose, and — most critically, perhaps — college girls in sun dresses.
The indie comedy Liberal Arts — new to DVD, Blu-ray and digital this week — explores this phenomenon with the story of one 30-something man’s retreat to the university campus. Writer and director Josh Radnor (happythankyoumoreplease) plays Jesse Fisher, recovering English major and unhappy NYC professional, who returns to his alma mater in Ohio when a beloved professor retires.
Upon his return, Jesse meets the lovely and free-spirited sophomore Zibby (Elizabeth Olsen). They embark on a friendship, perhaps with benefits, as Jesse wallows in the sepia-toned nostalgia of college days. Jesse doesn’t quite approve of Zibby’s reading list (“What is it with you girls and vampires?”) but he finds that she sparks in him feelings he’s forgotten he can feel.
There is, of course, the matter of the age difference. Jesse does the math and calculates that when he was Zibby’s age, she was three years old. But he runs the numbers again and is pleased to discover that when he’s 87, she’ll be 71. That seems OK, right?
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