Frownland **
Ronald Bronstein, 2007
US
@ IFC Center
This would have made for an awesome double bill with Quietly on By. Perhaps that's what they were thinking when programming these on consecutive nights. Not part of The New Talkies, this was nonetheless another intimate, low budget film about awkward young people. I found the characters to be a bit less sympathetic than in Ross's film, and thus it was easier to watch them get belittled. The humor all has a dark, mean edge to it, and no one wins.
Bronstein said this was based on the negative experiences and feelings he remembers from being new to the city and very lonely. Keith (Dore Mann) is obviously something of a caricature, but his misadventures still resonate. He lives somewhere around Greenwich Village or maybe the Lower East Side and sells coupons door to door in Staten Island. He has a ferocious stuttering problem and minimal social skills. His roommate is a complete and total jerk. The film ends on a sour note, but no more sour than the constant tenor of the rest of the picture.
Unlike most screenings I attend, this felt like THE PLACE TO BE. Even though the theater was small, it was jammed, with a number of the mumblecore directors and some others standing in the aisles. There is no DVD available and no future screenings planned. Hopefully that'll change.
See also: Official website
Ronald Bronstein, 2007
US
@ IFC Center
This would have made for an awesome double bill with Quietly on By. Perhaps that's what they were thinking when programming these on consecutive nights. Not part of The New Talkies, this was nonetheless another intimate, low budget film about awkward young people. I found the characters to be a bit less sympathetic than in Ross's film, and thus it was easier to watch them get belittled. The humor all has a dark, mean edge to it, and no one wins.
Bronstein said this was based on the negative experiences and feelings he remembers from being new to the city and very lonely. Keith (Dore Mann) is obviously something of a caricature, but his misadventures still resonate. He lives somewhere around Greenwich Village or maybe the Lower East Side and sells coupons door to door in Staten Island. He has a ferocious stuttering problem and minimal social skills. His roommate is a complete and total jerk. The film ends on a sour note, but no more sour than the constant tenor of the rest of the picture.
Unlike most screenings I attend, this felt like THE PLACE TO BE. Even though the theater was small, it was jammed, with a number of the mumblecore directors and some others standing in the aisles. There is no DVD available and no future screenings planned. Hopefully that'll change.
See also: Official website
Labels: 2 Stars, 2007, Ronald Bronstein, US
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