Scathing Indictment of EBay
Added 8/24/2009
We view this film as a scathing indictment of EBay practices... Ir is enough to make you sick, the way ordinary people get ripped off and you turn on your computer, go online, log on, and see a picture of a beautifully restored La Z Boy, and then when you get the item in question, well, -- no spoilers here-- it is radically different than the item in the photo.
How much longer can a system built on deceit triumph in a world built on capital? Another reading of this film would reinscribe its Marxist ideology by pointing to the scene when Josh, Rhett and Emily pull up to the motel, and cheap Josh decides he will cheat the motel's management by booking the room at the lower one-person rate and sneaking in his brother and his girlfriend later. The motel manager, a weary, seen-it-all Gloria Grahame type, is wise to his tricks and effectively prevents him from parking close enough to the cabin to smuggle them in effectively. Instead he embarks on an impromptu plan that depends on Emily putting on his pants and hoodie, and acting butch, carrying in the suitcases, etc. The scene is played for laughs, most of them at Josh's expense. When he takes off his pants behind the wheel, for example, he reveals the tightest and most raggedyass pair of jockey shorts this side of Borat--and later makes a hundred yard underwear rush to the motel room under cover of darkness. All to save ten dollars.
In a world where two brothers and the woman who loves one of them are forced to humiliate themselves by driving thousands of miles from New Jersey to Atlanta, in order to deliver a chair to their dad, EBay practices come under scrutiny a la the best 60 minutes investigate journalism. Michael Moore, eat your heart out.
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Real Cinema Verite. Is that redundant?
Added 1/18/2009
One of the few indie films I've seen in which the improvised dialogue actually sounds real. For that reason, I like this genre road pic which lacks any real point, but still manages to entertain with its quirky cast of aimless 20-somethings. The motel scene is pretty good, as is the sudden 'wedding' of the younger brother, who looks like an escapee from a kibbutz. Catch this. The shaky, out-of-focus camera adds to the charm.
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Can't Quite Explain It!
Added 11/9/2008
I'm not a movie critic, by any means, however, there's something about this fledgling, amateurish, home made type movie, that really hits the mark. The characters are sooooo......I can't explain it! The Duplass Brothers, their Mom and Dad, fiance, and friend Brett are all in this movie about a chair they remembered from childhood. It's quite funny in parts, and quite sad in others, but mostly it's entertaining.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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UNBELIEVEBLE
Added 8/31/2008
This movie blows and blows hard, right from the get go. It continues blowing throughout, not letting up the whole time. I watched, actually fascinated by how bad it was, and it actually got worse as it went along. And not bad like some cheesy horror movie, where the awfulness is actually amusing. No, this is just bad. The acting, camera work, dialogue, and everything else about his movie is horrendous. And of course you can only make out about 1 out of every three words spoken, or mumbled. And the plot? There is no plot. Nor is there any point. Ever. Just a huge steaming load from start to finish. Astonishing in how it utterly fails to hold any value whatsoever.
1 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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The Puffy Chair drinking game: take a shot whenever someone says "dude", or "dig."
Congratulations, you now have alcohol poisoning.
This is a dull film, with dull characters, and it fails on many levels. At no point did I care about the characters, or what was going on. Secondly the writing and acting were cringe inducing. And lastly, the camerawork is atrocious.
It boggles my mind why anyone would rate it higher than a 3. Perhaps all the 4 and 5 star reviews were from family and friends of the director? No matter, this movie is trash and there is no reason why you should spend money buying or renting it.
2 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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The camera does more than just 'record', ya know...
Added 8/4/2009
Transitionally and historically speaking, the entire canon of independent filmmaking has derived from a basic desire to be `anti-Hollywood;' a reaction to the sameness associated with mainstream films. But this movement known as Mumblecore became its own cookie-cutter, like putting up a mirror in front of something and calling the reflection the original. These films are so ingrained within Hollywood ideology, I wouldn't be surprised if big budget films started moving into this aesthetic for stylistic intent. Indie films in the past were reflexive of the politics of the era in order to challenge (for lack of a better term) 'mainstream' ideals in regards to cinema; this new mode of digital filmmaking has made an absolute economy out of it.
Hannah is a basic plot; a bored girl has boring relationships, finds love, the end.
Stylistically, we're dealing with an absolute bare bones project: The film keeps `on location,` the location typically being two or three sparsely decorated houses; the mise-en-scene is kept quite minimal. The cameras are also completely framed with a handheld `home video' look, exemplifying both the digital video era we are currently living in, as well as evoking a type of YouTube-esque exhibitionism.
It's the content of Hannah that is so perplexingly frustrating; there is nothing that the text could be saying. The director is aiming for 'naturalized' acting, 'naturalized' situations, and 'ultimate realism.' But for what purpose? 'To document a generation.' Well, then do a documentary; don't create an absolutely facetious representation that is inherently speaking to absolutely nothing. What's the point of creating if there's no creativity?
Cheapening form and content, in the sense, is another example of capitalistic deterioration of quality in favor of quantity also inspires the "I can do that" phenomenon; audience members view these cheap, `technically unfinished' films, get the idea to make their own, and in the process lessen the quality even further as time progresses. Look at how many filmmakers have emerged due to the "YouTube phenomenon," which transcends any sort of filmic value to the mode of a home video camera and digital assets. "By changing the world they exist in through labor," Dallas Smythe argues, "human beings at the same time alter their own nature, for the lives of people are influenced both by what they produce and how they produce."
Scary concept if this is what my generation is calling a 'film movement representative of our culture.'
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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Hannah ruins the movie...
Added 9/14/2008
To start off, I love independent film. I love low-budget films. After all, Clerks (Collector's Series) was a low budget film. But, that movie was entertaining and funny. This movie seemed to have no redeeming value.
Hannah is a twenty-something intern at a production company. She starts off with one boyfriend, and quickly gets rid of him, because she likes someone else that she is working with. He starts to get a little stale as well, so she replaces him with the other guy that they are working with.
I would find it more interesting if there was a script intact. I could deal with ad-libbing if it were amusing or enjoyable, (not to say that this was ad-libbed, but it seems as though it was) but most of the time, you had to listen carefully, because there was a lot of mumbling, and to be honest, the characters weren't that compelling. They also seemed as if they could learn some social skills as well.
And, of course, there is Hannah. She seems to be floating through life, not a care in the world, except for who she is going to sleep with next. She wasn't intelligent like the men at work claimed. She was so self absorbed, so annoying, and it was really hard to listen to her voice, quite honestly. I have read many books and seen movies where the characters are not good people or I don't empathize with them, but at least in those situations, the characters were intriguing! The conversations were so awkward, with so many pregnant pauses, and everyone interrupting each other. It was like not being able to look away from a car crash.
My boyfriend walked out of the room halfway through, but I decided to stick it out, just in case it got better. I hardly ever write really negative reviews like this, unless something is really terrible.
5 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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most excellent
Added 3/18/2008
Easily the best effort to date of Joe Swanberg, an indie filmaker fav. This film rocks in its subtleties as Hannah grows into different relationships. No ninjas or zombies, but what can be more engaging then two people searching for love playing trumpets in a bathtub.
2 out of 6 people found this helpful.
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