Jenny Slate ’00
Actress, Landline

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Landline follows the lives and relationships of the Jacobs family—played by Jenny Slate, Edie Falco, Abby Quinn and John Turturro—in 1995 Manhattan. The film is set in an era when people called from pay phones, relied on answering machines, made mix tapes for their friends, and shared one family PC connected to a dot-matrix printer. Technology is a focal point when sisters Dana and Ali Jacobs discover a floppy disk containing erotic poetry written by their father and intended for someone other than his wife. Infidelity seems a family trait, bemoans Ali, as she learns about her father’s extramarital transgressions and watches her older sister cheat on her live-in fiancé with a guy she knew in college. Dana and Ali’s relationship—and its evolution—is a central thread in the film.

Director Gillian Robespierre and co-writer Elizabeth Holm collaborated on the 2014 film Obvious Child, also starring Jenny Slate. Landline premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2017 and was purchased by Amazon Studios. One critic nods to the film’s talented cast and “a fast-paced approach from director and co-writer Gillian Robespierre” to developing this “charming, multi-generational dramedy.”

You’re Welcome

A gesture, an action, a new beginning, and a sustained sense of belonging. How do we build on the momentum of a great welcome and a meaningful first impression? This issue features Milton alumni whose work focuses on welcoming and positive beginnings and all the ways our school opens its doors—literally and symbolically—to the world.