Tiny Furniture (2010)

So this review, is many weeks old as I think I saw this movie nearly a month ago. But so be it, I'm forced into catchup mode, because, simply put, I don't always have the time or energy to review stuff right away. And if I was actually earning any income (or for that matter, perks/comps of some sort), the motivation to get this done in a more timely fashion would be there.

Blech.

So in 3-4 weeks post seeing this, I can say this was definitely one of the better movies I saw in the past 12 months. Although I doubt I'd consider among my top 5 or whatever (or as good as the 2010 IFP winner Easier With Practice). But it or the screenwriter (and actor/director) Lena Dunham did win a Independent Spirit Award (for best first feature) for it a few weeks ago, and for good reason.

It's a coming-of-age sort of movie, about a girl who comes home from college to live with her single mom and sister. Although those 2 were slightly less significant in the story as just what Aura (Dunham) goes through. She just ended a relationship with a long-term boyfriend, along with trying to figure out her life professionally, socially, romantically.

She meets 2 guys, 1 named Jed (Alex Karpovsky) at a party whose a bit awkward, but ultimately has his charm. The 2 of them end up having pretty much purely a platonic relationship, despite Aura's advances. Maybe some of that was a rebound thing?

The 2nd guy, named Keith (David Call), is this guy she meets at this restaurant place she ends up working at, whose not single nor really interested in her like she is in him.

Now I remember a bit of what I thought about driving home. Aura really comes off like a lot of guys in this movie. A bit desperate for something or someone. Maybe she does poorly in solitude. But it is ultimately given that her mother actually needs her, maybe more than she needs her mother.

At one point, Aura plans to move out of her mom's flat in NYC, and in with her friend from college who remained at their school in Ohio for awhile. It's odd how at the beginning of the movie, Aura talks to her friend on the phone, more or less like they were rather close. Eventually said friend comes to town and Aura sort of blows her off. I was a bit disappointed in that. It was in a circumstance where she was to meet Keith who she can't resist.

I actually think her friend from college's role was a bit downplayed. Maybe the point of her character needing to figure out her next move in her life added to that, but it's a bit sad when you are connected to a friend and then you don't see them for a few weeks, and suddenly their priorities and interest in you seem to have changed.

It is pretty noteworthy how not only is Dunham (and her family?) from Minnesota, but also how her mother and sister are played by her real family members. So, in a way it was almost a documentary in that sense. And if I recall from this interview Dunham gave on NPR, a lot of the story is based on her real life.

I would say this is hardly my favorite movie of this type (see 2010's Fishtank for one, or maybe more so Funny Haha which the more movies I see in this ilk, the more that movie stands out as being one-of- if not the best), but it definitely was good and impressive for a 1st feature.

Lena Dunham I guess is now working with Judd Apatow (it's mentioned in that NPR interview) to develop some kind of black comedy for HBO. I can't deny, I'm rather curious about that, as I think she showed enough with this movie not only as an actor and director, but screenwriter especially, to add interest in her future.

That's something to keep in mind in the coming months/years.

72/100.

Fish Tank (2009/2010)

edit: there's more to add to this review, but right now I'm dealing with elbow bursitis and am trying not to aggrevate it. In due time perhaps.

The "coming of age" adage that this movie is given does make sense to a point. Katie Jarvis plays the lead character Mia, and focus of this movie; ultimately she does "come of age" but with a lot of angles and hurdles to get by.

This movie is realistic and dark. Her character lives with her lackadaisical mother and kid sister. Both of whom
don't have concern of the language they use nor the things they put in their body (the younger sister in 1 scene
is seen with a friend smoking a cigarette, and she's maybe 9 or 10 years old).

Mia does not have many friends really. She is shown calling presumably 1 of them early on in the story, but we never meet this friend.

She likes to dance, hip-hop primarily. She even watches, criticizes and ends up head-butting 1 of the girls dancing in
her neighborhood. Pretty much of the feeling she's a far superior dancer. I suppose it's an ego-boost to her.

She wants to free this tied up horse, but isn't actually able to, due to the people who have it chained up being shady
and when they find her, they end up roughing her up. She is lucky to get away from them more or less unscarred.

Probably the most compelling character in the movie is her mum's new boyfriend Connor, played by Michael Fassbender who she ends up bonding with in a few ways, even after she criticizes him, more or less due to seeing him with her mum. But later, that feeling is
gone when he helps with her dance audition and ends up making a pass at her successfully.

We come to learn he has an ex and a daughter. She breaks in to their place and sees video footage of his young daughter
and I would guess partially out of jealousy and partially of anger for him fleeing her (and her mum I suppose) she sort of
kidnaps the daughter and actually ends up pushing her in the water. But her sense and heart is good enough not to abandon the much younger girl.

I sense to a point what she did with the daughter was similar to what she did with the horse; wanting to set them free.
A bit like her own situation not wanting to go off to some boarding school her mother is trying to send her to basically
out of lack of responsibility on both her own and mum's part.

Kierston Wareing is good in the role of her mother, although quite different than in It's a Free World the other thing I saw her in. I suppose in a way I felt she was a little underused, but the film's focus is on Jarvis, so I follow why.

83/100

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