Lately, I've been finding myself getting bored sometimes of the cut-and-copy movie formats around me. I don't think following common trends can be called a poor artistic decision, in fact, at this point, it's becoming more and more impossible to create something that doesn't at least somewhat resemble something that came before it.
And there it still sounds like I don't appreciate movies with common or predictable plotlines or styles, but I do. What I'm TRYING to say is: Sometimes I Get Bored. So I watch something completely random for the sake of seeing something less of the general public has seen and that may just be indie enough to break a few industry trends.
And in the past month or so, I've done so here and there, with two movies (neither of which I'd previously heard of) leaving an impression on me as original and worth watching.
This intro is dragging on about 5 times longer than I'd planned. Let me start again:
Hey, these were neat. Watch them if they sound interesting!
The Last WordStarring:
Wes Bentley
(American Beauty)
Winona Ryder
(Girl, Interrupted)
Written and directed:
Geoffrey Haley
The Last Word I watched a few weeks ago and really liked it. I originally picked up the case because of Winona's smile on the cover, expecting a run-of-the-mill crappy romantic comedy, but I'd never heard the title before, so I decided to give it a chance.
The basic plot goes as follows: Evan (Bentley) has a unique day job that involves suicidal clients who need to convey their final statements to the world in a more eloquent fashion that they themselves are capable of. Being the skilled poet that he is, Evan asks those clients to record a series of their thoughts and feelings
so that he might transfer them into lovely suicide notes for their families to find after the dark act is committed.That's where Charlotte (Ryder) comes in. She's a half-quirky, half-crazy girl whose brother was one of Evan's clients. So when she sees Evan at the funeral (taking notes on the quality of his work) and asks him how he knew her brother, of course the death-poet's only response is that he was a friend and wanted to pay his respects. Thus begins a relationship based on lies!
I know - on the surface this film looks just like a somewhat darker version of many other romances. But even from the beginning, before some of the oncoming plot points, both predictable and not, we see a twist on
the romantic drama that makes us think about whether Evan ever did anything wrong by lying. Anyway - don't think I've spoiled the movie for you, I'm still hovering within the first 10 minutes or so.Stylistically, The Last Word doesn't take any huge risks, but it's got quirky moments and interesting shot compositions that made me feel
like I was watching a movie someone had thought a lot about rather than apathetically tossing a story on film. The acting is worth noting as well, sticking to an offbeat, almost alienating approach. Not to mention being one of the VERY few times I've actually liked Ray Romano's presence on the screen.
And that's The Last Word.
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Good DickWritten by, directed by, and co-starring:
Marianna Palka
Co-starring:
Jason Ritter
This one... you'll have to just take my word on, because the description will need to include a series of weighted words. Like stalking. And personality disorders. And porn. If you're not interested YET... well... keep reading! Because you trust me!
Good Dick is a movie about a guy and a girl.The guy: an impulsive romantic who works at a video rental store with his friends and lives out of his car.
The girl: a societally shut-off loner who sits around every day in the spacious apartment her father bought her, watching porn and hating the world.
So when the two collide! The guy falls for her instantly and she
books it full speed in the opposite direction. So by way of some mild (not so mild) stalking and some witty persuasion (pathetic begging) he begins to work his way into her life.I found this story to be a bit more predictable once you're in the thick of it, but getting into the thick involves:
-getting used to porn as the early basis of a relationship-maintaining hope in the face of a hopeless love story
-stalking as a perfectly legitimate way to profess one's feelings
Anyway, it's indie and weird. And didn't bore me for a second.
