Mutual Appreciation

Andrew Bujalski's 2005 film begins with a musician moving to New York after his band breaks up. Alan is trying to do something new but postpones every step, while his interest in his closest friend's girlfriend complicates matters. The film is among the founding examples of what came to be called mumblecore. The dialogue is close to improvised, the performers are not professionals and the camera shoots black-and-white sixteen millimetre. The characters do not finish their sentences, they cut across each other, and the conversations arrive nowhere. That is not a method but a subject: rather than imitating indecision in one's twenties, Bujalski records it directly. The film has no dramatic event and needs none. Some viewers will find the approach entirely unbearable. Who it's for: those who like 2000s American independent cinema and films with improvised dialogue. Who it's not for: viewers wanting structured narrative and professional acting; the film refuses both deliberately.