This right here is pretty much the definition of independent American filmmaking. You’ve got the low budget ($US13,000), small cast, concerns with the day-to-day lives of modern youngsters. And it’s shot in black and white. But while a lot of efforts like this end up looking like masturbatory film-school projects, this is a credit to the style.
Because of budgetary limitations, it lives and dies on the strength of its script and the actors’ performances. Fortunately, these are its strengths. It deals with universal feelings about relationships and mixes it all up with humour that is just the right level of lowbrow. The principle cast members convincingly pull this off within the restrictions of everyday dialogue, showing both comic timing as well as chemistry when the story shifts towards the romantic. There are even a few nods to legends of the field like Woody Allen, but these are subtle and infuse the work with their spirit without shamelessly aping other peoples’ styles.
There are some missteps along the way; some of the pop music used can be cloying while a few of the ‘realistic’ occurrences stray too far towards convenience for the sake of metaphor. Still, they don’t significantly detract from this bittersweet romantic comedy, a melancholy example of a genre that we don’t see enough of.
