Is real life this whimsical, this airy, this bewildering and amoral, this grim yet carefree, this stilted yet lyrical? Etcetera? No. Not my life, anyway. Does that mean I can't enjoy a movie that's all of those things? No, I can enjoy it, but I have to raise one eyebrow at the people who gush about how close to their hearts this is. Likewise I reserve the other eyebrow for the people who proclaim this to be genius. It felt to me like a little pencil doodle - it might have had charm when it was tossed off, but hanging on the wall in the museum it gives me pause. Yes, it works out a little world that is neither escapist nor realistic, neither sugary nor bitter. It just floats there. Is that what we're meant to applaud?
If I detected it saying anything, it was saying things no less trite than the things it was apparently trying to be fresher and freer than...and if it genuinely wasn't saying anything, then all it achieved was a kind of sustained existential shrug, which doesn't impress me. If I had just flipped to this on TV without knowing anything about it, perhaps I'd have been amused by its flavor for the duration...is that all they expected?
If I detected it saying anything, it was saying things no less trite than the things it was apparently trying to be fresher and freer than...and if it genuinely wasn't saying anything, then all it achieved was a kind of sustained existential shrug, which doesn't impress me. If I had just flipped to this on TV without knowing anything about it, perhaps I'd have been amused by its flavor for the duration...is that all they expected?