Great Half-Expectations

By Thomas Willett

As I mentioned last week, I have been running a little low on my indie film count for 2012. To combat this issue, I decided to begin watching more titles, whether they be On Demand (Take This Waltz) or drive out to see them (Safety Not Guaranteed). Either way, I am trying to get back into indie cinema, because they don’t follow the current. Unlike blockbusters, there are rarely popular themes that plague them. We haven’t seen a plethora of Snow White or superhero titles overpowering our options. However, there has been one trend that has transcended all budgets. A lot of current indie films (notably comedies) have left me feeling underwhelmed.

Listeners will notice that I first brought this word into conversation when we reviewed Steven Soderbergh’s Haywire back in January. I will admit to finding the MMA fighting style of Gina Carano to be appealing, but there was little else that grabbed me. It could have been that I wasn’t into espionage, but as I watched more and more of his work I noticed that this wasn’t the issue. He’s just a director that I find produces underwhelming work.

What exactly makes his work feel lacking? For starters, I want to clarify that he produces quality work and I can find some merit in his entire catalog. I have trouble seeing the comedy in The Informant, which may have been one of my more anticipated movies of his. It isn’t that he is necessarily dry in his take on action and humor. In fact, his camera work in Traffic gave him a deserved Oscar for directing. I think that it is more in execution. Throughout all of his work, I have found his characters to be impersonal, and that is a bar that I have trouble getting over. There seems to be a secretive nature that I feel leads to inside-jokes for characters. Of course, if you don’t care for them, this will prove to be problematic.

I am not calling Soderbergh the equivalence of boring indie cinema. I am just establishing where my disconnection was first recognized. I think what keeps his work from being disappointing is not failed expectations. I have had that with numerous films, and I can find a distinct difference between underwhelming and disappointment:

Friends with Kids was disappointing because I felt Adam Scott deserved better material than the forgettable claptrap he was given. My desired potential wasn’t met for the majority of the film.

Wanderlust was underwhelming because I expected a great movie from director David Wain, but it turned out to be hit and miss. There were solid moments to make it worthwhile, but the sleight of hand creates the sense that you were cheated out of some greatness. I can see potential in this film where Friends with Kids left me with none.

The recent batch of movies that I’ve seen would fall more towards underwhelming because I found something worth highlighting. In Sarah Polley’s Take This Waltz, it is the actual story that creates the initial conflict for me. It is a typical love triangle that plays out in a slow, dramatic way. However, with solid performances by Sarah Silverman and Michelle Williams, that is the first complementary element I can give. I also feel that Polley has an interesting camera style that captures introverted emotion so well. In numerous scenes, music and silence determines character’s disconnection and is more powerful than words. It is the slow, obvious plot that drags it down until a conclusion that feels like it just happened to end a story.

Will I ever watch this movie again? Probably not. Will I invest in Sarah Polley’s other films? Most likely. I am of the mindset that just because a film is bad doesn’t mean you should end your relationship with a director. Maybe it was just a bad story and there is a silo full of gems that you haven’t discovered yet. Like Soderbergh, I keep hoping that I am working to something greater.

I feel like I rarely get underwhelmed from personal expectations. Because I study the promotional materials, I am aware of the vibe to expect. In the case of Take This Waltz, I was expecting a dull drama. I think that lowered the bar a little bit, and made the camera work that impressed me more notable. I think that indie films are different from blockbusters in terms of promotion. It is true that you often get stuck with the quirky leads and offbeat humor over some Belle and Sebastian song in the trailer, but they feel more honest. If you enjoy the trailer, you stand a chance of enjoying the movie because it is thematically the same thing and rarely misleads. Indie films have nothing to gain by lying.

Of course the difference between blockbusters and indie films is they are rarely going for excessiveness. If anything, there is a sense of understatement. The films that succeed are the films where virtually nothing happens, or if so, on a shoestring budget. Moonrise Kingdom is a great example of a film where a simple love story turns into a great romantic comedy featuring natural disasters. The film may be very busy, but there is an understated feel that keeps everything from feeling unnecessary. Of course, this is largely due to an already solid story and a confident veteran director named Wes Anderson. His characters are rarely born without some intriguing quirk.

I am currently facing a Soderbergh like frustration with Mark Duplass. While I enjoy his work on The League, I cannot say that he is a thrilling filmmaker. His work often features the key flawed characters and a scenario that kind of works. After seeing Safety Not Guaranteed (he wrote and starred), I feel like he put too much into his stories. In the latter, he plays a very interesting character whose reveals throughout the movie lead to a touching finale. However, it is the subplot with Jake Johnson that drags it down. While it probably fits thematically with the story, it creates a sense that this story wasn’t long enough and needed to be buffed up. Unlike Moonrise Kingdom, I feel like they needed to have some edits here to create a more centralized story.

While there will never be a cure for underwhelming and disappointing movies, I wonder what are ways to keep it from becoming a negative experience. I am not saying to just immediately praise a movie, but go in with a positive, but cautious eye always helps. For most films, I go in with hopes that it will surprise me, which causes my attention to become more focused on how that could be.

I feel that while not all underwhelming films will live up to this standard, I think that there is some good that can be extracted from them. You can critique the movie as a whole as being lackluster, but don’t forget to look at the positive. Even if Take This Waltz was a boring film, that montage towards the end showed a director with some skill.

Maybe you could even critique ways that it could have been better. There is no limit to ways to creatively analyze the movie and at least make it through the screening. Also, acknowledge that not every film can be your style. A lot of the indie comedies that I have seen are dry and at times aimless, but I find small things to latch onto. Mark Duplass is not the most riveting writer, but he does have entertaining moments.

Most of all, just know that these are just movies. If it is underwhelming, know that the “less is more” feeling is much better than the “too much information” feeling. Create your own adventure within the world, even if it results in zoning out of the movie. In fact, just remember that this is a movie, and in an average of 90 minutes, you can go about your life.

I hope that my advice can help you get through some underwhelming movies. If anything, they make for good discussion points. Whatever you do, don’t write off a movie because it didn’t meet your expectations. Recognize the difference between disappointing and underwhelming and why that is. Constructive criticism is a game unto itself that everyone can play, and even with garbage like Greenberg, I can find things that aren’t all that bad.

Do you agree that underwhelming movies are not that bad? Am I missing ways to pass the time easier? Is Mark Duplass as understated as Steven Soderbergh? Am I going to face disappointment with Sarah Polley? Why not write to me with your thoughts and let’s get a dialogue going.

You can read Thom’s blog every Wednesday and hear him on Nerd’s Eye View every Tuesday and Thursday at nevpodcast.com. Send your thoughts to nevpodcast@gmail.com. You can also read Thom’s movie reviews for Cinema Beach at cinemabeach.com.