Unidentified Objects - Fragments Festival

 

Premiere at Fragments Festival, directorial effort from Juan Felipe Zuleta

An off-beat indie road trip movie about two people who start off as strangers and are en route to an alien pick up point in Canada.

Winona has the belief she is to be abducted and convinces her neighbour, to borrow his car and they drive to the abduction site together. Together the two forge to find their place in the universe.

Using distinct details such as the hot pink car in which they travel, the pair encounter some oddballs on their journey such as a nefarious border agent and two admirers of Winona who is a sex worker. Interspersed with odd vignettes and side-tracks that can be disruptive in other hands, yet Zuleta shows a deftness in handling proceedings throughout.

The film has an unusual energy thanks in part to the casting of small person actor Matthew August Jeffers as Peter and Sarah Hay as Winona making the odd couple. The chemistry between the two of them make for good viewing as they come to terms with their lot in life, overcoming the difficulties the planet in this galaxy has thrown them forcing Winona to seek answers elsewhere and smart Peter to question the rationale of it all, in a dwarf body he struggles to come to terms with his place as he feels he does not belong in this world.

For any road movie, the journey is always forward it is only when the characters stop and talk in diners or in the car, when those periods of calm arrive they get the opportunity to reflect and understand themselves and each other. The destination as ever is not the goal, the journey is the reward for these two outcasts on this world as they seek the answers on some other strata.

Unidentified Objects screens as part of the Fragments Festival on Friday 29th September at 9pm in Genesis Cinema 

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Stake Land - see it before anyone else!!

STAKE LAND is an energetic, brutal and thoughtful take on the vampire film set against the stark backdrop of a post-apocalyptic American countryside.

The film won the Midnight Madness Award at the Toronto International Film Festival after garnering rave reviews for its poetic take on a genre.

The film stars Nick Damici, Connor Paolo (Gossip Girl) and Kelly McGillis (Top Gun) and is directed by Jim Mickle (Mulberry Street) and is released in cinemas on June 17^th.

Metrodome Distribution and Prince Charles Cinema are teaming up to unleash STAKE LAND on the British public. Film fans have the chance to see the film for free at a special screening taking place on Sunday June 5^th at 10:45am.

Cinema-goers tough enough to arrive at the screening with proof of having donated blood in the last year will also be entered into a competition to win an exclusive STAKE LAND related prize…

To be in with a chance of grabbing a ticket, visit the STAKE LAND Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/#!/StakeLandMovie or email stakelandpcc@metrodomegroup.com

Winner’s names will be picked at random one week before the screening and notified shortly after.

Ballast DVD review

The debut feature from Lance Hammer finally reaches the UK screens, and this is the DVD release of the film that graced selected scenes in April.  The film took 3 years to reach our shores after it won major prizes - Directing and Cinematography - in 2008, and also major critical reaction from cineastes in America, including Roger Ebert.

Ballast is a gritty evocation of life on the Mississippi Delta, as three people encounter tragedy and the weight of it that befalls them.

Three black people encounter each other. Lawrence (Michael J.Smith) is paralyzed with grief after the death of his twin brother.  Twelve year old James (JimMyron Ross), comes under the wings of terrible youths with unfortunate results, whilst his mother Marlee (Tarra Riggs) is unbeknowst of his behaviour.  When violence erupts in the life of the mother and son, they flee in the night and safe harbor is on Lawrence's door step.  This then rekindles a bitter longstanding conflict between Lawrence and Marlee, who was once married to Lawrence's twin; whilst James has robbed Lawrence to try and pay off the youths who have attacked him.

Director Lance Hammer, graduated as an architect and with the British cinematographer Lol Crawley (Four Lions), has created a film of real humanity where race does not enter the equation.  If this was a film depicting white people, there maybe a possibility of sentimentality or happy endings, but on this occasion, the non-professional actors provide the neorealism and independent feel of a film unlike anything seen before in American cinema.

Credit to the actors for taking us on this emotional rollercoaster, but the true credit belongs to the writer-director Hammer who shows a real command of proceedings which is genuine and surprising for a feature debut.

The DVD is released by Axiom Films, is certificate 15 and a running time of 93mins.  The DVD features a 'Ballast Scene Development', a featurette that runs 36mins, also an exclusive limited edition booklet, theatrical trailer and English HOH (Hard of Hearing) subtitles.

The DVD is out now and is £15.99RRP

Source Code review

Jake Gyllenhaal, is fast becoming one of those stars who is building up an impressive resume of films, which give him another five years he will have a CV of films which you will read down and say, 'I didn't know he was in that', you already forget that he was in Brokeback Mountain, more remembered for the passing of Heath Ledger and Jarhead, as good a war film produced by Hollywood in recent years.  And those are just two films.

Last summer he appeared in Prince of Persia, a would be summer blockbuster which asked him to put on an English accent and a Jason Bourne body to build up a franchise for himself.  Unfortunately, that film did not capture the audience's attention even though it did have some plus points as harmless family fun.

Source Code offers Gyllenhaal a second chance, and ironically, the film's entire structure revolves around second chances.  Gyllenhaal plays a marine Colter Stevens, who is part of a government program called 'source code' where he is supplanted into an individual who matches his physical specifications (a la Quantum Leap) and he experiences - through simulation and a mastering of physics - the last eight minutes before a tragic incident; he has to find out vital information that may prevent the loss of further lives as the clock ticks and chances slip by. 
     Stevens awakes on a train in the body of Sean Prenger opposite a lady he has never seen before, but who Sean clearly has a relationship with. The lady is Christina (Michelle Monaghan) and she is an alluring beauty to wake up opposite.  Stevens has eight minutes before the train blows up to find out who the bomber is and where the bomb is, as well as fall in love.  Okay you cannot do all that in just eight minutes, but the film borrows from Groundhog Day in that Stevens travels back to wake up opposite Christina and so his ordeal or assignment starts again.
     Stevens is monitored by Goodwin (Vera Farmiga), a fellow soldier who is her guide and helps with his investigations on the train and she is shadowed by Dr. Rutledge (Jeffrey Wright) the creator of the mechanism and a brooding intense presence who holds vital information to Stevens' personal records in Afghanistan and what happened to his unit.  Stevens wishes to call his father, and Goodwin and Rutledge insist on finishing the job first.

The reason this role is so good for Gyllenhaal is that he has a lot of different genres to tick off; action star, detective, love interest and dramatic moment such as when he phones his father during one eight minute cycle.  When he finally does figure out most things and arrives at the last cycle, he exerts this supreme confidence in his own ability, not just a projection of the character but the actor also.

The script written by Ben Ripley (previous credits include sequels to Species) is a taut piece of science fiction, not too sci-fi for novices to be scared by and with enough action, romance and thrills for all to enjoy. However, the most credit must go to director Duncan Jones (Moon) who has graduated from his freshman piece to this excellent sophmore effort, you can see Jones gaining confidence in his direction as he uses the set of the same carriage train to good effect letting the camera explore the location and using alternative angles for each eight minute cycle instead of the expected same lazy set ups.  Jones obviously wanted to keep the attention of the audience, and key to it was that there mind was probably grasped early enough anyway, the next step was to make sure that they were awaken by what they saw as well as what they heard.
    Jones, who elicited a career effort from Sam Rockwell, does the same with Gyllenhaal here as he graduates to play a man, too often he has played prolonged adolescents or boys who have not grown up, in Colter Stevens we see a responsible adult on screen.  He is helped admirably by the two females, Monaghan has never looked lovelier and for someone who started so late in her career she aswell is garnering quite a CV from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang to this via the underrated Eagle Eye, she is a calm presence, as is Farmiga here who plays a soldier and woman, and is reassuring to Stevens as he battles in his 'pod' and quest for the answers - taking a severely underwritten role and extending it to something more as she becomes a shared spirit with Stevens.  Jeffrey Wright also plays Rutledge as malevolent self brooding and self-important mad scientist but ultimately a gloryhound in search of fame and fortune.

If I have one flaw it would be the ending, non-ending debate; the choice of actual ending combined with ending that they could have had will be one of endless discussion on noticeboards and forums.  My belief is there was a chance to leave the hero in limbo would have been a noble deed to a man who did quite a lot, and all the talk of living for the moment and if you had one second left to live, what would you do - they swerve us and go in another direction. I felt this was a shame of the initial intentions and contradictory to the intentions of the character, Colter Stevens himself.

Be that as it may, the film still takes you on a brilliant journey full of thrills and spills with something for everyone including romance, adventure and a good old fashioned time travel yarn.  Recommended to everyone, it may be marketed as science fiction but it is a good film so do not let genre labels put you off.  And as for Gyllenhaal, he has found his niche and his entry into the A-list is assured now.

Blue Valentine DVD review

Blue Valentine is released by Optimum Entertainment on Monday 9th May for £12.99RRP and is also available on Blu-Ray

Director, Derek Cianfrance, has taken a long while to get his screenplay to the screen - supposedly nine years from treatment to production; what has to be asked is why did theoretically a two-hander between the man, Dean (Ryan Gosling) and wife, Cindy (Michelle Williams) take so long to get to the screen. The dual narrative tells the story of a breakdown of a marriage, whilst also showing how they came together in the first place.

This narrative of a breakdown of a marriage due to an overblown ego of a male and a derailment of romance has been seen previously in American independence cinema and is a familiar trope to be executed, most notably by John Cassavettes' Faces and most recently in Francois Ozon's memorable 5x2, which showed the breakdown of a marriage in chronological order but in reverse - starting in the divorce lawyer's office and ending with the meet cute.

On this occasion we start with the couple with their child and then sending child to grandfather to indulge in a romantic getaway at a fleabag themed hotel, ironically they choose the 'Future Room' which is exactly what they do not have by journey's end. This narrative is interrupted by flashbacks to the time when they first encountered each other, the meet cute and personal dilemmas involved once Cindy becomes pregnant with someone else's baby.

After she refuses an abortion, Dean offers to be a father to a child that is not his and husband in a new family. The film shows them 6-8 years after this life-changing decison and the effect it has had on Dean is startling; a shadow of his younger, viral self with a receding hairline and alcohol addiction, which is alluded throughout the film and admonished by the film's chronological end.

This is a bold and brave piece of filmmaking, especially by the two leads who helped with the film's flow in terms of improvising dialogue but at times some scenes come across a little too self-indulgent, such as when Dean serenades Cindy with a solo ukelele performance with a high voice as she dances in a doorway; whilst this is romantic, could the flashback just be too indicative of how perfect it all was back then and perhaps too sentimental to punch the message home.

Cindy wants to be a doctor but ends up as a nurse who is hit upon by her new boss, another example of a man in this film who is a douchebag. Most of the men in this film are douchebags, especially Dean who at times is both irritating and selfish, as is Bobby (the man who impregnated Cindy), a boy all full of testosterone. And Dean could be a renaissance man, but puts his idea of virtue above providing financial stability for his family by becoming a house painter.

Interestingly, the scene where Cindy bumps into her child's father, Bobby (Mike Vogel) in a liquor store is a weird scene but played perfectly by Williams - her eyes lighting up at meeting an old flame with excitement burning in her heart for the first time in quite a while.

However, even good production values such as switching of camera style - from handheld video for the contemporary scenes giving it a harsher, grittier quality and then harking back to 16mm for the flashback scenes giving them a warmer, happier tone - cannot save the film from the requirement of a tighter script that on occasions in the modern day scenes pleads for the less is more approach, as Dean repeats another vital line to death. Sometimes the audience, especially the independent cinema one should be respected enough to get the message straight away.

Not to do a disservice to Williams and Gosling in their performances, whilst Gosling is all brooding and showy with his sunglasses hiding inner turmoil, Williams is brilliant as a young woman whose ambition and drive to be a better person and wife than her own browbeaten mother is shot to pieces by the sheer over-inflated ego of her husband. But it is these two performances from two esteemed actors of their generation that raises this film above from passable to watchable.

Released on May 9th by Optimum Entertainment on Blu-Ray and DVD

Black Swan

Black Swan (Darren Aronofsky, US, 2010)

Following on from the surprise of The Wrestler where he reinvigorated the career of Mickey Rourke (and somewhat saved his own after the disappointment of The Fountain), Darren Aronofsky returns with another film that goes behind the velvet curtain and features a powerhouse leading performance. This film is led by Natalie Portman, who deservedly won the Oscar for Best Leading Actress at this year's ceremony, as Nina a perfectionist ballerina, whom is unexpectedly promoted to the position of lead dancer following the suicide attempt of the previous holder, played with evil malevolence by Winona Ryder.

Talented but worried by the onset of age as her chance may have passed, Nina is greeted by alpha male director Thomas Leroy (Vincent Cassel) as the person to play the dual role of Odette/Odile, the White Swan and the alter-ego, Black Swan in Tchaikovsky's Swan Lake. Upon granting her the role of a lifetime, Leroy is himself perplexed by Nina's apparent angel quality for the white swan, but fears she does not have the underlying sexual energy for the black swan. This is both Nina's and the film's dilemma.

The introduction of new chorus girl, Lily (Mila Kunis) who has a fluidity and sexuality all too readily available in contrast to Nina's timidity means Nina is in constant battle with Lily; initial friendship leads to intimacy leads to regrettable bitterness. Nina also has a strict parent in the form of mother Erica (Barbara Hershey) who still treats Nina as a pre-teen girl scared of her growing up and not being able to enjoy her success with her.

Aronofsky from the outset employs his hand-held camera as his eye on this world, immediately positioning itself upon Portman's shoulder as she enters a stage to dance. It is as if we are prying upon a private world. However, this has always been a m.o. of Aronofsky, showing us worlds we rarely see and perhaps reluctant to see; from the wrestlers taping up before a show and licking their wounds afterwards to the down and out routine of the junkies in Requiem for a Dream. The director chooses to be in the face of the character, using scenes we would not see normally in a ballet/dance film - did you know ballerinas get massaged just as much as wrestlers.

Black Swan combines part of thriller elements with body horror and a psychological study of a paranoid young woman experiencing hallucinations, not hiding the fact that this should be considered a 'woman's picture'. The use of doubles and mirrors are used predominantly - such as when Nina walks along a subway and her face is transposed onto the face of the oncoming person, she looks at herself and freezes. The mirror and constant looking at herself, when scratching a rash leads to many, only enhances her hallucinations. Ironically, her major act of violence is committed using a shard of glass.

Aronofsky does not pander to the audience forcing us to make quick judgments, even providing a double cross after the final act of violence allowing the end result to become more poignant. The tale of Nina's constant struggle for perfection is driven by her character alone, she has people around her who wish to push her off course, but it is her intrinsic being to be perfect that heightens these delusions and ultimately to her eventual downfall.

The end is similar to the ending of The Wrestler when Mickey Rourke dove off the top turnbuckle but we did not see the landing, on this occasion we see Nina land but the landing was just as uncomfortable.
At times a difficult watch due to the body horror coupled with genuine scares and moments of terror, the film is steadied by a stellar performance by Portman who is ably assisted by Kunis, who shows a different side to her talent playing misunderstood and sexual, instead of the girl next door she is frequently cast in. Aronofsky again shepherds his actors to career performances whilst indelibly leaving his fingerprint upon proceedings.

Winter's Bone

Critically acclaimed and Oscar nominated for acting, writing and music - the winner of the 2010 Grand Jury prize at Sundance, arrives on DVD from Artificial Eye. Starring Jennifer Lawrence in a breakout star making performance, the film is gritty and tense in the American tradition of Hollywood crime thrillers, but in the mould of independent cinema predecessors, the film shines a light on a part of America you have not seen before, and but for the commitment of the film-makers would remain out of the spotlight.

Ree Dolly (Lawrence), is 17 years old and lives at home with her ill mother and two younger siblings, after a visit from a local police officier she has to find her missing father, who has skipped bail and has put up their family home up as collateral; if he does not attend before his court hearing, the house will be repossessed.
Set in the Ozark woods of Missouri, Ree embarks upon an odyessey to find him and find answers amongst a close knit but tight lipped community, the code of silence is paramount when draped across the majestic landscapes that paint a picture of a weary world amongst all these questions and allegations.  Ignoring threats and advice from friends and family, Ree gradually pieces together the reason for her father's disappearance.

The film is directed by Debra Granik ('Down to the Bone'), who adapted Daniel Woodrell's novel with Anne Rosellini for the screen, they bring the thriller elements to the film and nature plays a part on film; at times you can feel the cold enveloping you as Ree plods on to her next port of call.

At times brutal in its starkness, and with flashes of genuine violence; the film does not foresake a sense of humour for its grittiness. At one time in the story, Ree along with a friend has to cut hands off of a dead character to help identify the body - Ree holds the arm out of the water whilst her accomplice chainsaws off the hand. Once done, Ree lets out a wail at the gruesomeness (the director, cleverly does not show bone or blood, only heightening the sound of the tool being used and facial expressions of Lawrence to convey the fear occuring), she drops the body into the water. Only for the accomplice to ask why did she let go, as they need both hands for proof.  A moment of Lynch-esque humour in a tale of bleak midwinter.

Orginal in its depiction of this wild frontier, and helped by the beautiful soundtrack of mountain music that indicates a place and a release for the community of robust individuals.  The film belongs to the 20 year old Lawrence, who acts beyond her and her character's years; being mother to her siblings whilst her mother is ill, strong and determined in her attempts to track down the truth and not backing down from anybody.  Deservedly, Lawrence has been nominated for Best Actress at the Oscars in a couple of weeks, as has the Adapted Screenplay, but she was joined on the nomination list by John Hawkes who plays her Uncle Teardrop, a mixture of menace and terror (somewhat akin to Robert Mitchum in 'Night of the Hunter'), who may provide the answers to his brothers whereabouts.  As is the music nominated, as original and as fresh as the film it helps score.

A film that hopefully will not fall off of the radar anytime soon, the DVD release comes a long time after its theatrical release in late September, a testament to the staying power of a film that from humble beginnings can proudly sit at the top table in Hollywood, as the film itself received one of the ten Best Picture nominations, affirming it as the independent film of 2010.

Released by Artificial Eye on 31 January, certified 15; the DVD is £15.99 RRP, Blu-Ray £19.99RRP
http://www.artificial-eye.com/home.php

The Interpreter

Can someone please explain 'The Interpreter' to me?

I caught this film on ITV2 the other evening, and remember when this film was first released how intrigued I was by the premise with its Hitchock and 'The Conversation' influences along with the combined force of Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman being directed by the very reliable Sydney Pollack.

Unfortunately, my hopes for the film were dashed, by the sad mish-mash of what I did see.  A would be thriller that was not thrilling, devoid of sexual chemistry between its two leads (when it dearly needed it) and what descends into a love letter for more peaceful times of diplomacy and pre-Apartheid South Africa.

You could call it a mess, but that would be doing a disservice to the word or films that truly were - 'Showgirls' and 'Dude, Where's My Car?' - Nicole Kidman saunters around pouting forever, doing her best Meryl Streep impression (remember Pollack directed Streep in 'Out of Africa') with another voice to her ever burdgeoning collection, it is unfortunate for an actress who can be so good only really appears in one good film for every bad four.  That is not a terrific ratio for a Hollywood star, all stars appear in some crap but not like her; 'The Stepford Wives', 'Australia', that piece of crap with Daniel Craig - she is an Oscar winning actress that makes some bad choices.  This film came hot on the heels from her winning performance in 'The Hours', likewise Penn in 'Mystic River', so you are allowed some rope to hang yourself with. But a film that ceremonially rips off a Coppola classic and does not deem itself worthy to acknowledge such a thing is bemusing.

Penn, is another actor who gets on my nerves. All method, but no posturing, here he plays a widower who comes back to work just two weeks after his wife's untimely death in a car crash - what really, your bosses at the Secret Service, thought you had grieved enough to work at the United Nations after such a long process.  He broods, he is angry, he raises his voice; he is the man to Kidman's woman, we are very clear about that - but the love interest that would appear in any other film involving an agent and the person he is protecting, never materialises - even the suggestion of a kiss in the epilogue never comes.

To be a director of thrillers, you have to keep things away from the audience. Here Pollack decides to let us know everything that is going on, this is okay if there is a final twist. Not on this occasion, what we see is what we get - there are two scares; the mask at the window and the gunman, both done sufficiently. But the bus explosion is done badly, once Penn tells his boys to get off the bus - you know the bad thing will happen.  You also have to be a bit of a bastard to your audience, and not respect them so much - he likes to give them answers before necessary.  A thriller can be fun, and well surprising.

If someone could interpret this film as anything other than a PR coup for the UN (this was the first film to allow scenes to be shot inside of it), you would have thought a better script would have been delivered.

What remains is a film that flatters to deceive,and leaves you feeling aggreived for wasting your time in watching it.  Too long to make its point, after there is no point to be delivered.  And a waste of Catherine Keener's talents also, who is nothing more than a lumbering sidekick to Penn the brooder.

500 Days of Summer - A Story of Love

America, the country that brought us the romantic comedy has seemingly tried to dismantle its reputation in recent efforts with such banal efforts as 'The Sweetest Thing', any Jennifer Lopez film; it remains hard to believe that the most romantic of comedies was 'The 40 Year Old Virgin' where the focus was on the blossoming relationship between a man wanting to lose his virginity with great humility, rather than 'Good Luck Chuck' where it was all about sex, lust and nothing emotional.

In a way this is down to the narrative structure: we meet boy - boy meets girl in the 'meet cute' - they fall in love - they fall out - reconciliation - marriage (sometimes). Whilst the marriage was a more apparent resolution in the golden era of the 1930s and 40s (the comedy of remarriage) when it was in partnership (appropriately) with the screwball comedy.

With '500 Days of Summer' you get a film that is both typically an American film, yet at the same time atypical - there are French influences and disruption wiht the chronological order.   The films starts with day 200 odd, then we jump to 488, then back to day 1 to the meet cute.  But we already know that this couple are not destined to be together yet we are told the resolution before hand - this meddling with the status quo of the narrative structure may serve to alienate viewers especially female ones so used to the romantic storyline of 'love conquers all'; female acquaintances have told me that they did not get the story, why do we watch a story where they dont fall in love. This is not a love story, but a story of love: how love can make you, become you, make you joyful, make you suffer, make you love other things - so this reciprocates into other cultural formats such as music (hence the killer soundtrack), fashion and architecture.

Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is 27 years old and stuck in a job he did not want to be in, writing greeting cards instead of the career in architecture he envisaged.  Summer (Zooey Deschanel) is a playful soul who does not want a serious relationship - people may argue this as misogynistic characterisation - nice enough to desire, impossible for asking for independence, then succumbing to the very things she mocked earlier in the film - love, fate and destiny.  Summer is a free spirit, but ultimately grounded once 'the one' arrives, this arrival of her soulmate is too abrupt to believe, hence why some female viewers did not connect with the film as planned.

Wearing its influences proud on its sleeve, parodying European influences from Nouvelle Vague to Antonioni; the soundtrack of bittersweet artists (The Smiths, Temper Trap). An individual bemoans his role in society, yet belives in such a sentimental trope like love so effortlessly as we see in the 'meet cute' and the film's conclusion when he looks at the camera a la Alfie, you await a wink that does not arrive but the breaking of the fourth wall works as the revolution of the romantic comedy has begun.

If only we could get Kate Hudson, Jennifer(s) Aniston and Lopez to take a risk and lets stop Amy Adams before she makes another 'Leap Year'. Comedy reflects the society it lives in, it needs to be socially conscious and more prevelant of the time - than a weak comedy with sex and fart jokes with real talent rather than Dane Cook.

'500' is reminiscent of a film from France you have never seen before drawing influence from Francois Ozon's '5x2', which used the narrative device of showing a relationship at the end up to its beginning concluding the film.

Witty but not self-congratulatory in its dissection of modern day relationships, funny without bordering on tasteless; acted with poise and skill, it is a film to cherish as well as recommend.

EASIER WITH PRACTICE

Last Thursday (4/11/10) I was granted the privilege of watching a preview of a well reviewed film on the festival circuit. The film was EASIER WITH PRACTICE directed by feature length debutant Kyle Patrick Alvarez and is based upon the autobiographical essay by Davy Rothbart which was pulished in GQ.

A road movie (my first instinct was it reminded me of a younger version of 'Sideways') following Davy Mitchell (Brian Geraghty) as he treks across New Mexico reading at book clubs peddling his book of short stories entitled, 'Things People Do To Each Other'.  The book clubs smack of boredom, and with his brother Sean (Kel O'Neill) in tow the nights are long and full of bars with literature students adoring the young writer, whilst his engaged brother indulges in adultery.  From the outset, there is a difference and tension between the two brothers; one is intellectual, one is an easy going spirit. One is shy around women, the other has no sort of problems.  One night at another motel, Sean goes out to get some cigarettes and leaves Davy watching television and then the phone rings.  Davy answers it and a female voice is on the other end, she calls herself 'Nicole' and she is horny; Davy initially put off is intrigued and so starts entertaining her notions of masturbation.  And so we are met by one of the bravest scenes in recent American independent cinema; the camera is fixed on Davy, initially in long shot, it slowly zooms into have just his chest and head in the shot as he masturbates in unison with Nicole, culminating in a mutual climax. 

Often in independent cinema, there is a greater freedom and honesty with sexual activity (you need only see any mumblecore film for reference), but rarely do you see a male character(actor) do a scene that is so raw and real at the same time; a scene that could have been so easily played for laughs, tells us a lot more about Davy than any conversation with a periphery character.  Davy is lonely, but has love to give and finally feels like he has made a connection with someone, albeit with a voice somewhere.

Ultimately, the film leads to a climatic scene that is again a scene of such openness and social embarassment, the like of which is rarely seen in American film full stop.  The final reveal of Nicole is both powerful and startling, in that the twist is the last thing you saw coming. 

There is more drama than comedy, although the laughter is more witty than laugh out loud because of the urbane intellect of Davy's surroundings - if you were to pigeon hole the film it would be in the same vain as the work of James L. Brooks.

I would like to touch upon the character of Davy - whilst in theory and genre he is a million miles from the characters of the Apatow universe, he does provide a missing link in my theory of the 'Noughties Oh-No man', a character very prevelant in the first decade of this century's American cinema. He is an intellectual based on genuine talent, but nevertheless a talent that remains undiscovered, however, he is a man easily made a fool of by his peers and family (much like Andy in 'The 40 Year old Virgin'), and is but in context of his situation by contrasting him with an alpha male to his beta (in this film Sean is alpha to Davy).  Unfortunately, these highlighted flaws in his beings lead to him being unsuccessful in his career and love; such as when he attempts to reignite an old flame Samantha in the film.

Brian Geraghty, whom I first recognised getting high with Shia Labeouf in 'Bobby' and matured to appear in 'The Hurt Locker' gives an extrarordinary performance from an actor under the age of 30, he is still young in face but his manner shows a built in world-weariness that the character requires, but the requirement of him to be in every frame/scene of the film could have been a tough ask for a less accomplished actor. 

Alvarez who shows some assured footing in this his debut feature is lucky to have such a performance, but his sureness of touch and feel is good to see in a film that is both sincere and human.  Some of the scenes/montages which show Davy and Sean cruising around motorways and motels are expertly shot and remind me of music videos in there framing and composition, coupled with a hip indie soundtrack that full of male voices externalise most of Davy's feelings.

There are some moments that will leave you scratching or shaking your head in disbelief, but believe it not because you have to but because the conviction and honesty of both direction and performance commands it.  Recommended and try and hold out for the ending, unlike the two or so people who walked out shaking their head.

EASIER WITH PRACTICE is due for release on 3rd December 2010, a Forty Second Production it is distributed by Axiom Films, whom I thank for the preview seat.