Frances Ha (2012)

"Frances Ha" is admittedly not normally my type of movie, but I was sporadically entertained by its down-to-earth charm. Filmmaker Noah Baumbach, who skyrocketed to indie fame after acquainting us with a cast of outrageously cruel, petty, narcissistic characters in "The Squid and the Whale" (I guess I've made my stance clear on that movie,) squares in on the lifestyle of the big-city intellectual again in "Frances Ha," but at least now the characters are tolerable.

   Greta Gerwig gives a amiable performance as well-meaning, somewhat ditzy college grad Frances Halladay, who aspires to make it as a dancer. Her BFF is the bespectacled and kind of bitchy Sophie (Mickey Sumner,) and and two are as devoted as two friends ever were. When Sophie prepares to move to Japan with her boyfriend who she doesn't really love, 'Patch' (Patrick Heusinger,) Frances feels lost without her best friend, and her life starts to veer off the the tracks.

   Not a lot happens in this film. What's special about it is the real-life quality of the acting and dialogue. However, I did not like this as much as similarly naturalistic "Wendy and Lucy" because there was no high drama. I know, not every life contains a lot of intense drama. But in that movie Michelle Williams was struggling to keep her head above water financially and her fight to provide for her and her dog. She has a goal. Live. Or starve. We can't look away.

   Frances simply flounders. She complains about money, but scrounges up enough to take a trip to Paris where she never leaves her apartment. She lives with two hipsters for a while and it seems like something romantic is going to happen with one of them, but nothing ever does. She wants to dance, but lacks the talent to make it happen. Frances is a nice girl, but the film lacks immediacy.

   However, there are pleasures to be had from watching this movie. There is something to be said for getting entangled in a characters life, uneventful as it might be. Frances is a well-written character, and all the side characters seemed real. The down side- the astonishingly tasteless moment when drunken Sophie *SPOILER WARNING* stoically describes the miscarrying of her unwanted baby as 'cool' *END OF SPOILER*. Ouch. It's hard to have sympathy for her after that.

   I like the way this movie deals with the everyday awkwardness of relationships. The social difficulties Frances faces never seem forced or exaggerated. Anyone who has said something they later wish they hadn't (that's everybody,) drunk or sober, can relate to Frances. The film chronicles little moments on Frances' journey to become a self-made woman. I'm down with that. I just wish the story had been a little more arresting.

Note- This film is in black and white. Resident whiners and trolls beware. No it is not in color. No we do not need to hear how 'behind-the-times' or 'pretentious' the filmmaker is. You have been warned.
                                        Rating-
                                              6.5/10

Clay Pigeons (1998)

Apparently, filmmaker David Dobkin was inspired to make this after seeing "Fargo." Despite never reaching the creative heights as the Coens' 1996 masterpiece, "Clay Pigeons," set in a small Montana town peopled with idiosyncratic  characters, functions well as a unique independent film with bite and quirky oddness to spare.

   Here's the deal- loser Clay (Joaquin Phoenix) is banging his best friend Earl (Gregory Sporleder's) white-trash girlfriend, Amanda (Georgina Cates). When Earl gets sick of being two-timed, he gets drunk and commits suicide in front of Clay, trying to frame him for his death.

   This leads to a string of events that leave Clay totally shaken and out of his comfort zone, as bodies pile up, friendly serial killer Lester Long (played by Vince Vaughn, but don't let that run you off) befriends Clay, and acerbic FBI agent Agent Shelby (Jeanane Garofelo) is on the case.

Elephant (2003)

"Elephant" is an interesting experiment, which could benefit from some editing and stronger acting. The ambiguity that surrounds the motivations of the killers is a frustrating, but perhaps relevant, critique of the shroud of confusion that surrounded the Columbine killings.

   Parents, teachers, bullies, and the media were all held under scrutiny, and many school shootings later, we're still holding candles in the dark as to what motivates these kids to kill their peers- and themselves- in a time that seems rich with possibility.

Tony (2009)

"Tony" is the rare exception where the term 'indie horror' means smarter rather than just cheaper. On one level, it's a pretty simple premise (man commits crimes, man goes unnoticed until...), but on another, it a phenomenal character study of a man to whom desperation is a constant companion, to whose hobbies others would find sickness and perversion. All that and a highly effective performance by unnoticed actor Peter Ferdinando, as the titular killer.

   Tony is a lonely fellow who idles away his days watching low-grade 80's action films. We see him desperately trying to make a connection with the uncaring world around him, but socialization is hard, especially if your second hobby is, well... killing people.

In Between Days (2006)

Yep, this is pretty much your anti-Hollywood movie. Through lack of professional actors, elaborate sets, soundtracks, and expensive cameras, "In Between Days" tells the a story of teenage woes set against a snowy, barren backdrop.

Many would call "In Between Days"'s lack of action 'boring,' I found the uber-realistic feel of the film intriguing. This is a movie the filmmaker made because she wanted to make it, not because it would make a lot of money. I find that a refreshing concept. I am proud to be the audience for this movie.

Super-cute Aimie (Jiseon Kim) is a Korean immigrant caught in the transition between childhood and adulthood. Not a particularly avid student, quiet Aimie spends most of her time with her troubled guy friend, Tran (Taegu Andy Kan.)

Wendy and Lucy (2008)

This movie is not for everyone. Curious art-indie buffs, you know who you are. Others, look elsewhere. "Wendy and Lucy" is 'real' in such a way that it will delight a certain audience and bore the pants off everyone else.

   Drifter Wendy (Michelle Williams,) camping out in Oregon on her way to find work in Alaska, travels alone except for her beloved dog, Lucy. So when Lucy goes missing in a small podunk Oregon town, Wendy vows not to leave until she finds her best friend and traveling companion.

   Invested in her plight is a kind, otherwise unnamed Security Guard (Wally Dalton) who doesn't seem to do much work but instead gives her advice and comfort while she tries to find her dog. Wendy comes into contact with other people, some helpful, some detrimental, and in the end must make a painful and difficult choice.

WIld Tigers I Have Known (2006)

"Wild Tigers I Have Known," Cam Archer's visually striking but somewhat self-indulgent debut, is an abstract and meandering portrayal of teen angst and burgeoning sexuality. Its youthful protagonist, Logan (Malcolm Stumpf), seems perpetually caught between a daydream and and the harsh, uncaring real world.

 Sounds kind of like Guillermo Del Toro's "Pan's Labyrinth." Except that movie actually had substance. Oh well. This movie at least looks pretty, and art-chic-happy film students might find more to love in the film than I did.

   13-year-old Logan is lonesome soul, given to walks on the beach and recording himself going on a abstract tangents. He also is in the midst of discovering his sexuality (gay as a maypole) while harboring a crush on Rodeo Walker (Patrick White), the most popular boy in school.

Jesus Henry Christ (2012)

Unfairly bashed by critics as self-consciously quirky and "hipster," "Jesus Henry Christ" is a entertainingly quirky little film, featuring highly intelligent characters who must find their own way towards being happy.

Henry James Herman (Jason Spevack) is an enigma, a brilliant youngster raised by his single mother Patricia (Toni Collette.) Henry has a keenly incisive mind and a photographic memory, but there is one thing he doesn't know... who his dad, an anonymous sperm donor, is.

Enter dweeby professor Slavkin O'Hara (Michael Sheen), whose latest mistake is putting his 12-year-old daughter Audrey (Samantha Weinstein)'s face on his new book, Made Gay or Born That Way? Audrey, as it turns out, is gay, but she's not ready to be outed just yet, and Slavkin's bug-up provokes the merciless taunts of her peers.

Angela (1995)

 
   
     Movies are hardly ever made about mentally disturbed children. I think it's because people envision childhood as some kind of Eden before they grow up and life gets messy - people get jobs, come of age, and possibly lose their minds - but before that, life is rosy and carefree. Angela, a dark, dreamy film from first-time director Rebecca Miller, proves just how wrong they are. The eponymous character (Miranda Rhyne), who could be diagnosed with any number of psychological ailments, has moved to a ramshackle house with her parents and younger sister Ellie (Charlotte Eve Blythe).

     The girls' mother, Mae, seems to be Bipolar - dark moods come over her unexpectedly and her daughters would do anything in their power to make her happy. Solemn pre-teen Angela, however, is having internal struggles of her own. Obsessed with religious imagery and sin, she is visited by Lucifer, a pale winged man who tempts her with promises of a better life. When young Ellie sets the curtains on fire, Angela puts her in a protective circle surrounded by dolls to purge her of her sins and save her from eternal damnation.

    All right, I'll be downright controversial here - this movie shows how damaging extremist religion can be for children. It is hard to argue (but some people will, anyway) that young children shouldn't be troubled by these things.  By the time they can read "are you saved" slips, even those not born of fundamentalist families will wonder what lengths they should take to follow the right path. This and a chemically unbalanced mind tend to take these things to an obsessive level.

     Okay, now that I've offended two-thirds of he audience and driven them away, I'll get to the technical aspects of the film. The sound, as you might of heard, is really bad. This may or may not only apply to the Netflix Instant version of the film, but the actor's mouths move discordantly with the dialogue so that you hear the sound effect ten seconds after the said action occurs. For a low-budget movie, the acting is pretty good, and the little girls do decent jobs. There is some child nudity, which could be artistic or offensive depending on your point of view, but it bothered me a little bit - can't these girls afford bathing suits?

     I liked Peter Facinelli as the devil- sly rather than overtly threatening and easy to confuse with a good angel (but watch out for those cloven hooves). Last was the sudden, tragic ending, whose implications were more disturbing the more I looked into them. If you like arty, deliberately paced dramas that fly under the radar, this could be a good choice for you. It has a moving message about the psychological vulnerability of children, especially unstable ones, and what happens when they go unnoticed (Rated NR.)

 Rating-** Stars