FilmCouch

FilmCouch #24

This week Paul and I talked about "Mumblecore" (aka- movies made by aimless twenty-something about aimless twenty-somethings for aimless twenty-somethings). Or is it more than that?

 Some titles we discussed:

Hanna Takes the Stairs

LOL

Kissing on the Mouth

Orphans

Quiet City

The Godfather (it's in there, listen for it)

 Also, Paul mentioned the Duplass Brothers and their 2005 Sundance hit, The Puffy Chair. I had not seen that one, so my wife and I watched it last night. We both enjoyed it very much, but her comment kind of surprised me. She said, "This reminds me of Bottle Rocket so much that it's almost annoying." Interesting. I hadn't thought about these films in that context before. They do resemble Wes Anderson's premeire film quite a bit, I didn't make the connection because I usually think of Bottle Rocket as a stepping stone to Anderson's later, much more "production design-y" work.

So what do you think? Has this been done before? If not by Wes Anderson, then who?

Re: FilmCouch #24

Not exactly mumblecore, but: I haven't seen In the Land of Women yet, but someone - maybe Mick LaSalle (SF Chronicle movie critic) - said that it is typical of the director/writer in his 20s (in this case, Jon Kasdan) focusing on the trials of the 20-something - while meanwhile, oh yes, Meg Ryan is dying of breast cancer.

A few little thoughts on the subject:

1. I'm reminded that Andy Warhol made a film of someone sleeping, which might represent an symptote for the curve of unscripted realism in mumblecore movies.

2. Mumblecore has to share the zeitgeist with reality TV and unscripted TV (e.g., Curb Your Enthusiasm). Does Andrew Bujalski ever worry about sounding like the Big Brother reality show?

3. I watched Mutual Appreciation the other night, but Justin Rice looks and sounds so much like my daughter-in-law (mutatis mutandis) that I couldn't concentrate on the movie.

4. The thing is, most of us in real life avoid conflict even in highly emotional situations. So when characters avoid conflict at the climax of a film, it might seem natural but it's not necessarily very interesting or satisfying.

Re: FilmCouch #24

joem18b:

when characters avoid conflict at the climax of a film, it might seem natural but it's not necessarily very interesting or satisfying.

Good thought. I haven't seen all of the films listed, but from the ones I have they seem to fall on both sides of that line. Hanna Takes the Stairs hovers around some serious character flaws but never really addresses them (at least not in a traditional conflict-->resolution way). While in The Puffy Chair confrontations definitely happen and decisions are made (although maybe not the ones you'd expect from Hollywood).