Review: The Puffy Chair

Friday, February 05, 2010

Yes, that's right, I'm reviewing a film we DIDN'T see at Sundance... but hold on, it's relevant.

One of my favorites of the festival was The Freebie, which will come as no surprise to some of you who saw the flurry of Facebook posts about the film.  Upon my return home, and more specifically to work, I was greated by Jeremy (co-worker, friend and film maker) and his copy of The Puffy Chair.

The Puffy Chair is a film directed by the Duplass brothers (also staring Mark Duplass) which appeared at Sundance a few years back (2005)... and more noteably, Katie Aselton, (directed and co-starred in The Freebie) was the co-star in The Puffy Chair (and is also married to the other Duplass brother).

The Puffy Chair is a film about relationships.  It begins with a guy named Josh having found the perfect birthday present for his father - an old puffy chair recliner, like one he had so many years ago.  He purchases this on eBay and needs to drive a few days to pick it up.  His girlfriend, Emily (Aselton), is very much into their relationship while Josh seems somewhat non-commital.... she's looking for romance and the dream... he's just a guy.  Reluctantly he asks her tocome along on the trip.

They come to meet up with Josh's hippie brother, and as the film progresses Emily and Josh begin to pull apart, realizing their differences and that what they want out of a relationship is very different.

The film was shot in that style you see a lot now - the quick movement, documentary method that appears as though they have a camera crew following them around.  I think they did this to give you a more real, gritty intimate look at this relationship - think of NBC's "The Office" style of shooting, except these people didn't know the cameras were there.

This was clearly a Lo/No budget film, which is perfectly fine with me - I love to see what people can do with nothing.  I think the style of the movie fit the topic - down and dirty real raw relationship stuff, though at times I found it a little more distracting than it maybe could have been.

The story itself was okay.  Having just seen (and fallen in love with) The Freebie, I naturally was tempted to make comparisons.  This film kind of felt like it floated along a bit - you could see a natural build-up and the direction it was headed between the two main characters, though in the end I was sort of let down.  I prefer to NOT have a standard Hollywood ending to a film, however I need some kind of ending or thought to reflect on.  This film left me wondering "okay.... now what".

The actors did a fantastic job, and I understand why people said they fell in love with Katie Aselton after it.  Katie gives a great performance for the story, and is a very believable character.  Not only that but she doesn't have that polished movie-star look.  She's attractive, but she's real-world and I feel like you can connect with her emotionally because she's real.

I think I would have to give the characters/actors an A in this, however the film cinematography and overall somewhere around a C.  It felt like an average indie film for me, and the ending didn't pull out any stops.  If you're looking to see what I've been raving about in The Freebie, you won't find it here, however you will get Katie Aselton in another very good performance.