TINY FURNITURE should be commended - a young filmmaker uses her mom's loft and her actual mom and sister to play her mom and sister - shoots it on a HD video camera for about 50k and becomes an Indie Film darling! That is amazing and I love hearing stories like this. Dunham is very talented and there are great scenes in this movie but the rave reviews are waaaaay over the top. Slow down. The film just meanders - it starts to repeat itself and I found the ending lacking. I do not need everything all tied up in a bow for me and I love films that just mosey a long (Stranger in Paradise, etc.) but after awhile - the film does just seem like a bunch of scenes stitched together without any payoff of any kind. I get that many young people will totally relate with the story of a college graduate having no idea what to do with her life and Dunham is perfect in the role - in fact, it was refreshing to see a woman as a lead who looks like her - she is dumpy with thick legs, a big butt and she walks around a lot of the movie pantless - which is great - that's how a lot of people walk around in the privacy of their own home. I'm glad to hear this indie has led to a bunch of other projects for her - congrats. I hope she learns how to write a better story next time. (Oh - and the girl who plays her crazy friend Charlotte is absolutely terrific!!)
44 Reviews
Nothing happens, but "Tiny Furniture" hits on many Millennial truths
Movie_Muse_Reviews1 February 2017
The saga of the Millennial college graduate who moves back home and begins a maddening search for direction — that's what Lena Dunham sets off to depict in "Tiny Furniture" and she does it in the most Millennial way possible: completely DIY including casting her mother and sister to play — her mother and sister.
Dunham captures the mundanity of post-undergrad life at home, even though her character Aura's life is a little more unusual; home is a Manhattan loft where mom (Laurie Simmons) is an a photographer/visual artist (she actually is in real life) of solid notoriety. Sister Nadine (Grace Dunham) lives there too, but she's in the no-pressure zone of high school. There isn't so much a plot synopsis as a list of friends new and old and other influences who make Aura's new life as a young adult and dreams of becoming a successful artist complicated and messy.
The authenticity of Dunham's voice as a writer rings clear. A lot of it is the semi- autobiographical form; it's impossible for any peers watching (and maybe some a little older) not to relate in some way to Aura's "struggle." It might be nice if more stuff happened in the film instead of a whole lot of stuff that could be stuff but doesn't ever become stuff, but there's also something refreshing about taking it in as a contemporary portrait of an emerging generation. Also, you could argue that there's a certain poetic truth to the fact that nothing really happens.
The "action" is how Aura navigates internal and external pressures. Everyone around her, for example, seems to have found a measure of success. Her mother, for one, has been successful forever; she meets a successful-ish YouTube star in Jed (Alex Karpovsky) who's talking to networks about a TV show and even her sister was recognized nationally for her poetry, which Aura can't help but demean. Then there's her oldest childhood friend, Charlotte (Jemima Kirke, Dunham's actually oldest childhood friend) who sports the couldn't-care-less attitude that plays in contrast to it all.
Aura's first foray into the "real world" involves getting a job, since that's what people are supposed to do, but of course being a daytime closed-hours hostess at a restaurant is a far cry from her aspirations, even though she seems to believe its in her best interest. Throughout the course of the film, Dunham exposes a bit more of Aura's psychology, namely the complex nature of her relationship to her family and home in the specific and broadest sense.
Done for as low a budget as possible, the actors here are all amateurs but it doesn't show. Dunham's strength is obviously her writing, but she's a sufficient stand in for the average 22-year-old, and as a director, she makes the most of it with some interesting shot framing to bring varying perspectives to the talk-heavy action.
"Tiny Furniture" is a really impressive debut for a fledgling filmmaker, especially one whose talent is writing and simply needed to round up a cast and crew to realize her story into some kind of finished product. It could certainly use a plot, but Dunham is able to effectively touch on the melange of post-college emotions in the 21st century in a way that's yet to be articulated, and which she effectively continued to expound upon in her HBO series "Girls," which this movie made possible.
Dunham recognizes the complexity of her generation. There is a self-centered component, there's a familial dependency, but there's also a mixed bag of influences and life philosophies that can take hold of the wheel at any moment. We are pitiable and pitiful, lost yet driven, naive and all too aware of how the world works.
~Steven C
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Dunham captures the mundanity of post-undergrad life at home, even though her character Aura's life is a little more unusual; home is a Manhattan loft where mom (Laurie Simmons) is an a photographer/visual artist (she actually is in real life) of solid notoriety. Sister Nadine (Grace Dunham) lives there too, but she's in the no-pressure zone of high school. There isn't so much a plot synopsis as a list of friends new and old and other influences who make Aura's new life as a young adult and dreams of becoming a successful artist complicated and messy.
The authenticity of Dunham's voice as a writer rings clear. A lot of it is the semi- autobiographical form; it's impossible for any peers watching (and maybe some a little older) not to relate in some way to Aura's "struggle." It might be nice if more stuff happened in the film instead of a whole lot of stuff that could be stuff but doesn't ever become stuff, but there's also something refreshing about taking it in as a contemporary portrait of an emerging generation. Also, you could argue that there's a certain poetic truth to the fact that nothing really happens.
The "action" is how Aura navigates internal and external pressures. Everyone around her, for example, seems to have found a measure of success. Her mother, for one, has been successful forever; she meets a successful-ish YouTube star in Jed (Alex Karpovsky) who's talking to networks about a TV show and even her sister was recognized nationally for her poetry, which Aura can't help but demean. Then there's her oldest childhood friend, Charlotte (Jemima Kirke, Dunham's actually oldest childhood friend) who sports the couldn't-care-less attitude that plays in contrast to it all.
Aura's first foray into the "real world" involves getting a job, since that's what people are supposed to do, but of course being a daytime closed-hours hostess at a restaurant is a far cry from her aspirations, even though she seems to believe its in her best interest. Throughout the course of the film, Dunham exposes a bit more of Aura's psychology, namely the complex nature of her relationship to her family and home in the specific and broadest sense.
Done for as low a budget as possible, the actors here are all amateurs but it doesn't show. Dunham's strength is obviously her writing, but she's a sufficient stand in for the average 22-year-old, and as a director, she makes the most of it with some interesting shot framing to bring varying perspectives to the talk-heavy action.
"Tiny Furniture" is a really impressive debut for a fledgling filmmaker, especially one whose talent is writing and simply needed to round up a cast and crew to realize her story into some kind of finished product. It could certainly use a plot, but Dunham is able to effectively touch on the melange of post-college emotions in the 21st century in a way that's yet to be articulated, and which she effectively continued to expound upon in her HBO series "Girls," which this movie made possible.
Dunham recognizes the complexity of her generation. There is a self-centered component, there's a familial dependency, but there's also a mixed bag of influences and life philosophies that can take hold of the wheel at any moment. We are pitiable and pitiful, lost yet driven, naive and all too aware of how the world works.
~Steven C
Thanks for reading! Visit Movie Muse Reviews for more
Naive sophistication, and privilege as disadvantage
Chris Knipp20 December 2010
An interesting aspect of young Lena Dunham's feature is that some of the most favorable reviews and interviews never mention the word "Mumblecore." There has to be a reason for that. If Tiny Furniture is annoying, it may be because it's smoother than most Mumblecore movies and that only brings out the laziness, the unambitious self-satisfaction of the genre/school/orientation of the young educated white Americans who've turned on their digital cameras and gained encouragement, or been called cool, for their DIY efforts to make feature films about themselves, which is to say, about nothing much. Tiny Furniture is Mumblecore that's suave enough to make you wonder why there isn't more to it. The clumsiness of other work of this generation makes one think there's something (maybe just raw "reality") behind it. Polish and self-possession in this director makes one suspect "reality" isn't all that interesting sometimes. Would anybody but film students and a tiny demographic find solace or food for thought in this picture? Tiny Furniture's protagonist, Lena herself, has just finished college and returns to the (admittedly somewhat chilly) "womb" of her highly successful mom's and self-confident teenage sister's big, all-white, hi-tech Tribeca loft. Dunham may be called Aura in the film instead of Lena (a name NY Times critic Manohla Dargis weaves a fancy critical-theory explanation for), but -- what is mildly unusual, but not very -- the filmmaker/actress managed to cast her own successful artist mother Laurie Simmons as Aura's mom and and her self-confident sister Grace Dunham as Aura's sister Nadine, and set much of the action in her mom's actual home. Not too much of a stretch there. Aura gets a job as a hostess at a restaurant around the corner and consorts with two freeloader would-be boyfriends: Keith (David Call), a sou-chef who cadges drugs off her and has sex with her in a pipe, and Jed (Alex Karpofsky, a Mumblecore regular, here an cutesy YouTuber and insufferable person) who only wants a place to sleep, and gets it, till Aura's mother comes back from a trip.
A positive aspect of Tiny Furniture (the title presumably refers to Aura's and Lena's mom's post-feminist photographic artwork about female roles) is that if it's sluggish and meandering, it's also good-natured. Mom and sis nudge Aura for taking up space and not doing much, but they're still friendly and polite, and Siri (Simmons' name here) tells Aura this is her home and is even kind enough to assure her she is probably going to become much more successful than she herself is. (A little research reveals that Lena Dunham's father, Carroll Dunham, is a successful artist himself; he did not, however, consent to "act" here.) Perhaps looking for signs of earlier doubts despite the current maternal success, Aura finds her mother's journals from when she was her age and reads them (and doubt she does indeed find there). Her mother doesn't mind this snooping.
Another feature that you may or may not like is Dunham's penchant for disrobing for the camera, showing her pear shape and small breasts without shame (as she should: there's nothing wrong with how she looks), and walking around the loft clad in T-shirt without pants. Aura just got a degree in Film Theory, again doubtless true, though the alma mater, Obrerlin, isn't plugged.
The material is Mumblecore, but the people don't mumble. Dunham favors articulate, unhesitant speech. She even indulges in a witty former best friend with good looks and an English accent, the drug-hoovering, wine-gulping and quite entertaining Charlotte (Jemima Kirke). If all the characters were like Charlotte, and Nadine's misbehaving preppie pals got to speck at their party, this might have a remote chance of approaching the sophistication of Whit Stillman's (1990) Metropolitan. But Metropolitan is about social life and Tiny Furniture is just about a self-absorbed young woman who never leaves the neighborhood.
Dunham's film has been acclaimed at the South by Southwest Festival (an ideal venue, to which it was granted late admission), then gotten generally favorable reviews and interviews in the NY Times and The New Yorker. I've given Mumblecore my time and my attention, but now I begin to wonder, if this is the template talented beginners are going to follow. Is there nothing better? This film made me badly need to see a HongKong gangster movie. If the depths of genre seem to offer more for the imagination and the heart to contemplate, something must be off.
A positive aspect of Tiny Furniture (the title presumably refers to Aura's and Lena's mom's post-feminist photographic artwork about female roles) is that if it's sluggish and meandering, it's also good-natured. Mom and sis nudge Aura for taking up space and not doing much, but they're still friendly and polite, and Siri (Simmons' name here) tells Aura this is her home and is even kind enough to assure her she is probably going to become much more successful than she herself is. (A little research reveals that Lena Dunham's father, Carroll Dunham, is a successful artist himself; he did not, however, consent to "act" here.) Perhaps looking for signs of earlier doubts despite the current maternal success, Aura finds her mother's journals from when she was her age and reads them (and doubt she does indeed find there). Her mother doesn't mind this snooping.
Another feature that you may or may not like is Dunham's penchant for disrobing for the camera, showing her pear shape and small breasts without shame (as she should: there's nothing wrong with how she looks), and walking around the loft clad in T-shirt without pants. Aura just got a degree in Film Theory, again doubtless true, though the alma mater, Obrerlin, isn't plugged.
The material is Mumblecore, but the people don't mumble. Dunham favors articulate, unhesitant speech. She even indulges in a witty former best friend with good looks and an English accent, the drug-hoovering, wine-gulping and quite entertaining Charlotte (Jemima Kirke). If all the characters were like Charlotte, and Nadine's misbehaving preppie pals got to speck at their party, this might have a remote chance of approaching the sophistication of Whit Stillman's (1990) Metropolitan. But Metropolitan is about social life and Tiny Furniture is just about a self-absorbed young woman who never leaves the neighborhood.
Dunham's film has been acclaimed at the South by Southwest Festival (an ideal venue, to which it was granted late admission), then gotten generally favorable reviews and interviews in the NY Times and The New Yorker. I've given Mumblecore my time and my attention, but now I begin to wonder, if this is the template talented beginners are going to follow. Is there nothing better? This film made me badly need to see a HongKong gangster movie. If the depths of genre seem to offer more for the imagination and the heart to contemplate, something must be off.
A glorified home movie
CinemaFrostedBetty17 May 2011
We live in a DIY culture, where filmmakers graduate from fancy-shmancy schools and think they can just make a film about themselves and call it art. Exhibit A (or Exhibit Gazillion): Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture (2010). A glorified home movie. Tiny Furniture tells the story of recent college grad, Aura (Lena Dunham, who also wrote and directed the film), who must deal with the transition from alternative, lazy student to an actual full-grown woman. Post- grad confusion constantly pedals itself across independent cinema, and frankly, I'm sick of it. The narrative is rather dull, but this isn't anything out of the ordinary for mumblecore. However, I do admire Lena Dunham and her character as Aura (where she is essentially playing herself). She may not be anything special, but she's real. She's accurate—naïve, narcissistic, and completely disoriented. Ultimately, I think that's why this film (amongst other post-grad films) is so successful. It's built for a certain demographic—post-grad losers. They (We) find these movies comforting because the lost characters are just like them (us). I'm not going to say I didn't enjoy this movie, but I probably wouldn't have hadn't I found it extremely relatable to my current lifestyle. Hopefully, this film will work as a serious reality-check for those of us graduating soon. I don't want to be Aura. That's for sure. Aside from its tired plot, Lena Dunham actually has a great visual eye and hopefully this will reflect in her future work, when she isn't delving into self-exploitation any longer.
a tiny film
JohnDeSando15 December 2010
"I'm in a post-graduation malaise," Aura to her mother
Aura (Lena Dunham) and her mother (Laurie Simmons, Denham's real mom) are a generation apart, and it shows. In Tiny Furniture (a reference to her mother's collection) Aura has drifting back to mom by returning after graduation to their upscale Tribeca apartment, which her mother easily covers as a successful artist. Aura has no prospects to be so successful, struggling as she is just trying to sustain through a nowhere position as a restaurant hostess, not the filmmaker she'd like to be.
While the apartment is minimalist white, sharp, and clean, Aura is heavy, homely, and slow. The honesty of not casting a hottie as most directors would is one of the film's noble features, and that this director casts herself in unflattering circumstances (Aura has her first complete sex, boring I would say, in a street construction pipe and wears ill-fitting clothes) is a sign of the realism rare in most contemporary comedies about 20 somethings. In fact, director Dunham has achieved a universality anyway because the players in this comedy aren't a whole lot different from the young sit-com residents of the last 30 years, except they all had jobs or prospects, and alas, Aura has none.
I didn't enjoy the film as I had hoped because except for the pipe and some smart Juno-like dialogue at the beginning with her sister and her mom, nothing much at all happens. If you compare Tiny Furniture with Manhattan-based Seinfeld, where it's about nothing but really something, then this is a tiny comedy where shifting around the furniture still results in a boring set up.
Aura (Lena Dunham) and her mother (Laurie Simmons, Denham's real mom) are a generation apart, and it shows. In Tiny Furniture (a reference to her mother's collection) Aura has drifting back to mom by returning after graduation to their upscale Tribeca apartment, which her mother easily covers as a successful artist. Aura has no prospects to be so successful, struggling as she is just trying to sustain through a nowhere position as a restaurant hostess, not the filmmaker she'd like to be.
While the apartment is minimalist white, sharp, and clean, Aura is heavy, homely, and slow. The honesty of not casting a hottie as most directors would is one of the film's noble features, and that this director casts herself in unflattering circumstances (Aura has her first complete sex, boring I would say, in a street construction pipe and wears ill-fitting clothes) is a sign of the realism rare in most contemporary comedies about 20 somethings. In fact, director Dunham has achieved a universality anyway because the players in this comedy aren't a whole lot different from the young sit-com residents of the last 30 years, except they all had jobs or prospects, and alas, Aura has none.
I didn't enjoy the film as I had hoped because except for the pipe and some smart Juno-like dialogue at the beginning with her sister and her mom, nothing much at all happens. If you compare Tiny Furniture with Manhattan-based Seinfeld, where it's about nothing but really something, then this is a tiny comedy where shifting around the furniture still results in a boring set up.
Vapid, Empty, Direction-less, Quirky, and Semi-Profound.
AMichaelL2 February 2012
This film is essentially about a young college graduate trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life. The fact that, throughout the movie, things only get more confusing for her, only adds to the realism of the film. I have read some reviews where people claim the movie is TOO pointless, or too confusing, or just generally lacking something. I understand this position, but to the people who think this, I kind of feel like they are taking the place of Aura's mother when Aura says to her mom "you never listen to me". This is a movie that requires you to heavily invest in the characters, so if you dislike them immediately, you will probably not like this movie, either.
Aura is a great character, one of the most realistic characters I have seen in a while. Even though I am a male, and am nowhere near her level of wealth nor as self-depressed, I am around her age and I could surprisingly still easily relate to her. Mostly because the time when you define yourself seems so important, and yet it is mostly a time where not a lot happens. Despite her 'hard time' she is still generally upbeat and curious towards everything, because I believe her character wants to believe, like her mother says, "your 20s don't matter that much...I never think about the past".
She is, however, a very vapid character. She tends to choose the wrong people to hang out with, and she is somewhat weak (I mean, she moans the whole movie that no one cares, but the one friend who truly does, she basically shafts). Yet, she is likable because she has flaws and she embraces them. We rarely see her in fits of emo pity; instead we see an intelligent, very funny young woman simply trying to escape the shadows of her family and overcome the awkwardness of young adulthood.
There are flaws here, but the writing was amazing (despite a lack of plot) - the dialogue is realistic and often hilarious. The composition of shots is brilliant, and the apartment's white walls draw beautiful contrast in certain shots. And the acting was stellar considering the indie nature and family sourcing which Dunham used to make the film.
It is not perfect, but it was an enjoyable experience, and I can imagine it only gets better with repeat viewings...since you know what to expect, you can focus more on the 'tiny' details that truly make up the triumph of the film.
Aura is a great character, one of the most realistic characters I have seen in a while. Even though I am a male, and am nowhere near her level of wealth nor as self-depressed, I am around her age and I could surprisingly still easily relate to her. Mostly because the time when you define yourself seems so important, and yet it is mostly a time where not a lot happens. Despite her 'hard time' she is still generally upbeat and curious towards everything, because I believe her character wants to believe, like her mother says, "your 20s don't matter that much...I never think about the past".
She is, however, a very vapid character. She tends to choose the wrong people to hang out with, and she is somewhat weak (I mean, she moans the whole movie that no one cares, but the one friend who truly does, she basically shafts). Yet, she is likable because she has flaws and she embraces them. We rarely see her in fits of emo pity; instead we see an intelligent, very funny young woman simply trying to escape the shadows of her family and overcome the awkwardness of young adulthood.
There are flaws here, but the writing was amazing (despite a lack of plot) - the dialogue is realistic and often hilarious. The composition of shots is brilliant, and the apartment's white walls draw beautiful contrast in certain shots. And the acting was stellar considering the indie nature and family sourcing which Dunham used to make the film.
It is not perfect, but it was an enjoyable experience, and I can imagine it only gets better with repeat viewings...since you know what to expect, you can focus more on the 'tiny' details that truly make up the triumph of the film.
Tiny maybe - but punches above its weight
tigerfish5028 October 2010
Written and directed by Lena Dunham, who also acted the part of the lead character, Aura, "Tiny Furniture" is a worthy accomplishment for a variety of reasons. Most importantly - with a budget of $50K - it demonstrates the production quality that can be achieved with minimal funds and a skeleton crew. The film tells the story of a young woman, just graduated from from film studies at Oberlin and upset over a recent romantic break-up, who returns to her artist mother's Tribeca apartment in New York where a younger sister also resides. Even if the storyline is seriously thin, the result is a witty look at the supposedly crucial dilemmas of an immature, privileged, self-absorbed female college graduate who finds herself on the threshold of adulthood. Coincidentally (or probably not) this narrative framework mirrored Ms Dunham's real-life circumstances at the time when she made the film - and she utilized her own mother, sister and friends to play their respective parts in this fictionalized version of her homecoming.
The film leads us through a sequence of Aura's everyday issues that she consistently turns into minor melodramas. These include communication issues with her mother, free-loading boyfriends, infantile sibling rivalry confrontations, employment problems and humiliating sexual misadventures - all of which are portrayed with a mixture of ironic humor and pathos. "Tiny Furniture" is beautifully photographed on a Canon Digital SLR, and the entire cast give appropriately cosmopolitan performances, with Jemima Kirke stealing the show as Aura's hilariously out-to-lunch BFF Charlotte.
The film leads us through a sequence of Aura's everyday issues that she consistently turns into minor melodramas. These include communication issues with her mother, free-loading boyfriends, infantile sibling rivalry confrontations, employment problems and humiliating sexual misadventures - all of which are portrayed with a mixture of ironic humor and pathos. "Tiny Furniture" is beautifully photographed on a Canon Digital SLR, and the entire cast give appropriately cosmopolitan performances, with Jemima Kirke stealing the show as Aura's hilariously out-to-lunch BFF Charlotte.
A slew of characters that make you ask "why bother?"
StevePulaski30 January 2014
The characters in Lena Dunham's Tiny Furniture are the kind that mistake the phrase "eight grade crying" for "integrated grinding," used in the context of describing a local dance. They are the kind of people who seem to have quite a bit to be thankful for - very nice homes/apartments, possessions that make people envious, lovely outfits, and more - but scarcely seem to recognize that and just go ahead and direct their attention to the first problem on their mind; one in particular is quoted that another spends a day "watching Rachel Maddow, eating coconut-macaroons and laying on a heating pad." They are also the kind of people who hit their friend with a wooden spoon in what seems to be a playful manner when they are legitimately angry at that same person. These are likely some of the most eclectic people ever committed to film.
But Dunham commits them and drags them along in a tired and often boring array of archetypal, indie-situational comedy that never seems to be interesting enough to become invested in or relatable or believable enough to take seriously on a personal level. I almost feel that the people who look up to this film now - post-college kids and twentysomethings trying to latch on to a specific direction in life - will look back on this film in maybe twenty years and smirk and perhaps hide their face at the characters' naivete and almost disturbingly ungrateful attitude.
The film is centered around Aura (Lena Dunham), who returns home from her liberal arts college to her mother's loft, which serves as her studio for her art. Aura majored in film studies and has no particular direction in life, and is caught in the middle of two men while trying to find motivation to even get up in the morning. The two men are pretty basic caricatures, much like herself - Jed (Alex Karpovsky), who has achieved moderate internet fame thanks to his Youtube videos and Keith (David Call), who works at the same restaurant Aura does.
Right off the bat, these characters seem to be nothing more than vessels spewing cute phrases that are a cross between directionless collegiate talk and a product of screen writing quirkiness. Despite Dunham approaching this topic with the mindset to capture this point in people's lives with a sense of authenticity. But just like that, everybody here feels inauthentic and quirky to the point of being barely able to function. Everything, from their moments to their speech to their speech-patterns, seems to be meticulously laid out and almost robotic, so as nothing is natural and almost exists as this artificial dream world.
Consider the scene where Aura and Jed have sex in a thin, tight metal pipe in the middle of the street in what is one of the most awkward and damning scenes I've seen in a while. There's no particular wit or humor in a scene like this. It's only awkward and serves as yet another moment when Dunham seems to be concocting a long line of eccentric events in the film for the sole purpose of having eccentric events take place.
Then there are scenes like the one where Aura throws an all out temper-tantrum at her mother in a scene that is nothing but whiny in tone and only adds to the unlikability of its characters. This scene, however, is still a bold act on Dunham's behalf because she's unafraid to show her characters in two separate lights, or even make a stern note of the distasteful acts she commits. Yet by the time we start seeing this unlikable side to the characters, Tiny Furniture hasn't given us much to really like or appreciate about the characters, so by the time these aspects are introduced there's nothing for us to remind ourselves that these characters are somewhat decent people.
I suppose by definition of technicalities, Tiny Furniture is considered a mumblecore film, for it has a heavy focus/attachment to its characters, makes an attempt at naturalistic dialog (by Dunham's definition not mine), and rather low-budget production values that use color as a way of disguising their cheapness. Dunham and another mumblecore filmmaker I have a great fondness for, Joe Swanberg, seem to do a lot of similar things from infusing their films with the likes of uniquely characters to focusing sights on their sexual adventures; the difficulty is stating why one does it better than the other. Maybe it's because Swanberg's approach seems to be catering to a wider demographic where you don't need to be a part of the characters' specific group in order to like or understand them. In Tiny Furniture, it seems the only way to have any kind of positive feeling towards these characters is if you have similar circumstances to them and, with the way Dunham has drawn these vapid and often contemptible people, I doubt a great many people have.
Certain parts of Tiny Furniture work - the framing is top-notch and tightly-formatted, giving the sense we know exactly what Dunham wants to include and exclude in the shot and, on occasion, Dunham stages some strong monologues. Regardless of how I feel about Tiny Furniture, there's little denying that Lena Dunham will be a central figure to monitor with the popularity of indie film along with her HBO show Girls. Like it or not, Dunham has now been billed as "a voice of her generation" so much now that she (a) knows it and (b) will continue to produce films that stay true to her specific style. How you'll feel about this statement will differ. I just believe I'm stating a fact.
Starring: Lena Dunham, Alex Karpovsky, and David Call. Directed by: Lena Dunham.
But Dunham commits them and drags them along in a tired and often boring array of archetypal, indie-situational comedy that never seems to be interesting enough to become invested in or relatable or believable enough to take seriously on a personal level. I almost feel that the people who look up to this film now - post-college kids and twentysomethings trying to latch on to a specific direction in life - will look back on this film in maybe twenty years and smirk and perhaps hide their face at the characters' naivete and almost disturbingly ungrateful attitude.
The film is centered around Aura (Lena Dunham), who returns home from her liberal arts college to her mother's loft, which serves as her studio for her art. Aura majored in film studies and has no particular direction in life, and is caught in the middle of two men while trying to find motivation to even get up in the morning. The two men are pretty basic caricatures, much like herself - Jed (Alex Karpovsky), who has achieved moderate internet fame thanks to his Youtube videos and Keith (David Call), who works at the same restaurant Aura does.
Right off the bat, these characters seem to be nothing more than vessels spewing cute phrases that are a cross between directionless collegiate talk and a product of screen writing quirkiness. Despite Dunham approaching this topic with the mindset to capture this point in people's lives with a sense of authenticity. But just like that, everybody here feels inauthentic and quirky to the point of being barely able to function. Everything, from their moments to their speech to their speech-patterns, seems to be meticulously laid out and almost robotic, so as nothing is natural and almost exists as this artificial dream world.
Consider the scene where Aura and Jed have sex in a thin, tight metal pipe in the middle of the street in what is one of the most awkward and damning scenes I've seen in a while. There's no particular wit or humor in a scene like this. It's only awkward and serves as yet another moment when Dunham seems to be concocting a long line of eccentric events in the film for the sole purpose of having eccentric events take place.
Then there are scenes like the one where Aura throws an all out temper-tantrum at her mother in a scene that is nothing but whiny in tone and only adds to the unlikability of its characters. This scene, however, is still a bold act on Dunham's behalf because she's unafraid to show her characters in two separate lights, or even make a stern note of the distasteful acts she commits. Yet by the time we start seeing this unlikable side to the characters, Tiny Furniture hasn't given us much to really like or appreciate about the characters, so by the time these aspects are introduced there's nothing for us to remind ourselves that these characters are somewhat decent people.
I suppose by definition of technicalities, Tiny Furniture is considered a mumblecore film, for it has a heavy focus/attachment to its characters, makes an attempt at naturalistic dialog (by Dunham's definition not mine), and rather low-budget production values that use color as a way of disguising their cheapness. Dunham and another mumblecore filmmaker I have a great fondness for, Joe Swanberg, seem to do a lot of similar things from infusing their films with the likes of uniquely characters to focusing sights on their sexual adventures; the difficulty is stating why one does it better than the other. Maybe it's because Swanberg's approach seems to be catering to a wider demographic where you don't need to be a part of the characters' specific group in order to like or understand them. In Tiny Furniture, it seems the only way to have any kind of positive feeling towards these characters is if you have similar circumstances to them and, with the way Dunham has drawn these vapid and often contemptible people, I doubt a great many people have.
Certain parts of Tiny Furniture work - the framing is top-notch and tightly-formatted, giving the sense we know exactly what Dunham wants to include and exclude in the shot and, on occasion, Dunham stages some strong monologues. Regardless of how I feel about Tiny Furniture, there's little denying that Lena Dunham will be a central figure to monitor with the popularity of indie film along with her HBO show Girls. Like it or not, Dunham has now been billed as "a voice of her generation" so much now that she (a) knows it and (b) will continue to produce films that stay true to her specific style. How you'll feel about this statement will differ. I just believe I'm stating a fact.
Starring: Lena Dunham, Alex Karpovsky, and David Call. Directed by: Lena Dunham.
Witty Character Study
brianskirk6 March 2012
Certainly this film will not be everyone's cup of tea. But I'm a sucker for movies that are light on plot and heavy on letting us just hang out with some interesting characters for awhile. The dialogue here is so natural I thought perhaps they were simply ad libbing. The chemistry between the mother and daughters is totally real (makes sense -- they are a real family), and the film perfectly captures the that feeling of lacking any direction following graduation from college. It's true that nothing much happens in the film -- it's more about the nature of relationships: renewing old ones, letting friends go, trying out new lovers, choosing the wrong people -- all while trying to figure out what it means to be an adult.
A good look at a young woman trying to find a direction
dbborroughs23 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
Young woman comes home after graduating from college and tries to get her life together as she deals with her mom, her sister, some friends and two potential boyfriends.
Inde darling film is both much better than I expected but not as good as I hoped. Don't get me wrong its a good movie and worth a look, I just was bothered by a few things. First up some of the performances are uneven. Lena Dunham who wrote, directed and stars in the film is good, but erratic in her performance, I think largely because she's doing too much. The guy who plays the slacker who latches on to her an leaches from her for a couple of weeks is so dead pan as to be nearly dead. The character is also so unlikable you don't see what out heroine sees in him (his philosophical cowboy is not even clever). The other people are mostly good, with Dunham's mom hitting one out of the park in every scene she's in.
Another problem I have is that while the camera work looks great its rather static and unremarkable. I understand Dunham was working under constraints but it makes the film feel like any number of inde films, which it really isn't.
On the other hand the script is often witty and on target (why the film isn't like many independent films recently). I really liked much of the dialog even if the drama is uneven.
Worth a look
Inde darling film is both much better than I expected but not as good as I hoped. Don't get me wrong its a good movie and worth a look, I just was bothered by a few things. First up some of the performances are uneven. Lena Dunham who wrote, directed and stars in the film is good, but erratic in her performance, I think largely because she's doing too much. The guy who plays the slacker who latches on to her an leaches from her for a couple of weeks is so dead pan as to be nearly dead. The character is also so unlikable you don't see what out heroine sees in him (his philosophical cowboy is not even clever). The other people are mostly good, with Dunham's mom hitting one out of the park in every scene she's in.
Another problem I have is that while the camera work looks great its rather static and unremarkable. I understand Dunham was working under constraints but it makes the film feel like any number of inde films, which it really isn't.
On the other hand the script is often witty and on target (why the film isn't like many independent films recently). I really liked much of the dialog even if the drama is uneven.
Worth a look
A waste of good celluloid
alan-lohf26 October 2012
Warning: Spoilers
I was influenced to watch this film by the score it achieved on IMDb - 6.3 when I checked. I'm obliged to assume this was a misprint - presumably it should have been 0.3.
The alarm bells started to ring with the credits - someone named Lena Dunham topped the cast and also wrote and directed this effort. Apparently she was 24 years old at the time. Okay, Mozart wrote his first symphony at the age of eight - but this is no symphony, it isn't even elevator music.
The lead character is a young female, single, a little overweight (which I mention because she emphasizes it in the film), recently graduated and unemployed, living in New York with her mother and younger sister.
What passes for a plot includes every imaginable cliché that might reasonably be crammed into 98 minutes:- inter-generational conflict, sibling rivalry, the search for affection, meaningless sex, blah, blah, blah. I imagine this film is at least partly autobiographical. Unfortunately, to describe it as tiresome is to indulge in gross understatement.
The most positive thing I can say about this film is that the performances were, by and large, credible.
Why the high scores on IMDb? Beats me! All I can say is, do yourself a big favour and watch something on television instead - anything!
The alarm bells started to ring with the credits - someone named Lena Dunham topped the cast and also wrote and directed this effort. Apparently she was 24 years old at the time. Okay, Mozart wrote his first symphony at the age of eight - but this is no symphony, it isn't even elevator music.
The lead character is a young female, single, a little overweight (which I mention because she emphasizes it in the film), recently graduated and unemployed, living in New York with her mother and younger sister.
What passes for a plot includes every imaginable cliché that might reasonably be crammed into 98 minutes:- inter-generational conflict, sibling rivalry, the search for affection, meaningless sex, blah, blah, blah. I imagine this film is at least partly autobiographical. Unfortunately, to describe it as tiresome is to indulge in gross understatement.
The most positive thing I can say about this film is that the performances were, by and large, credible.
Why the high scores on IMDb? Beats me! All I can say is, do yourself a big favour and watch something on television instead - anything!
"Tiny Furniture" Is More Than Just A Tiny Film
D_Burke29 December 2010
There are some big-name movie stars and directors still alive today who were involved in legendary movies of the 1960's and 1970's, reputed to be Hollywood's Golden Age of Cinema. Although many younger audiences are being re-introduced to them thanks to the advent of DVD and Netflix, many of the films' original stars and/or directors refuse to do commentary for their movies, claiming it ruins the experience of their films because it gives the audience too much information to thoroughly enjoy the movie for what it is.
That being said, I went in to see "Tiny Furniture" with increased anticipation knowing that it was written and directed by its star, 24-year-old Lena Dunham, who also happens to be making her feature-film debut. I had heard that the film was shot on a shoestring budget, and that Dunham's real life mother and sister were to be playing her mother and sister on film as well. Taking those facts into account actually made me enjoy this film immensely, and didn't take anything away from it as far as I could tell.
"Tiny Furniture" taps into familiar territory for recent graduates in their 20's (myself included), as protagonist Aura (Dunham) moves back to her New York City home after graduating from college in the Midwest. She's not sure what to do with her life, but what makes her character even more interesting is her inner conflict. She desires independence as many college graduates do, but she has mixed feelings about leaving her spacious apartment occupied by her artist mother and precocious, college-bound sister. One of my personal favorite quotes is when her mother asks her, "Do you like living here?" and her response is simply, "What kind of question is that? I love living here!" It's certainly not the way I felt when I moved back in with my parents after graduating college, but it's understandable in her case.
The story gets a bit bogged down by subplots that seem to take up unnecessary space in the film, like when an amateur filmmaker from out of town (Alex Karpovsky) crashes at her family's place while finding a place to live. This section of the film seems to come and go with no real explanation or resolution of its significance.
There were also some lapses in storytelling, resulting in the film feeling draggy in some sections, not to mention ending on a slightly inconclusive and very questionable note. Still, those weaknesses did not deter the strengths of this film. The movie is shot incredibly well, with lighting pitch perfect in almost every shot. It's hard to believe that it was shot almost entirely using digital cameras, and it probably shows a new trend in the next generation of filmmakers.
The acting by all those involved was also very convincing, without any hint of rookie mistakes such as looking directly at the camera. I particularly thought Jemima Kirke, who played Aura's best friend Charlotte, provided great comic relief, and was a refreshingly colorful presence whenever she was on screen. Both Dunham and Kirke are destined for bigger and better roles in the future. It also was a brave move for Dunham to hire her real life mother and sister to play opposite her, and it made the interactions between the three of them highly believable.
Dunham doesn't stop there with the brave moves, though. What other actress, either first starting out or already established, would put themselves up on screen wearing nothing but a T-shirt? She does it, though, and it's because the character she plays, like the story she wrote, is true to herself. Not many other filmmakers are that bold.
While the story is not perfect, and some scenes fail to contribute greatly to the story, "Tiny Furniture" is still a very auspicious movie that film school graduates would probably kill to make. It is similar to Martin Scorsese's debut film "Who's That Knocking At My Door" (1968) and Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" (1986) in that it's a small movie with a lot of promise. While it may not be for everyone, Lena Dunham is still a young filmmaker to watch, and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.
That being said, I went in to see "Tiny Furniture" with increased anticipation knowing that it was written and directed by its star, 24-year-old Lena Dunham, who also happens to be making her feature-film debut. I had heard that the film was shot on a shoestring budget, and that Dunham's real life mother and sister were to be playing her mother and sister on film as well. Taking those facts into account actually made me enjoy this film immensely, and didn't take anything away from it as far as I could tell.
"Tiny Furniture" taps into familiar territory for recent graduates in their 20's (myself included), as protagonist Aura (Dunham) moves back to her New York City home after graduating from college in the Midwest. She's not sure what to do with her life, but what makes her character even more interesting is her inner conflict. She desires independence as many college graduates do, but she has mixed feelings about leaving her spacious apartment occupied by her artist mother and precocious, college-bound sister. One of my personal favorite quotes is when her mother asks her, "Do you like living here?" and her response is simply, "What kind of question is that? I love living here!" It's certainly not the way I felt when I moved back in with my parents after graduating college, but it's understandable in her case.
The story gets a bit bogged down by subplots that seem to take up unnecessary space in the film, like when an amateur filmmaker from out of town (Alex Karpovsky) crashes at her family's place while finding a place to live. This section of the film seems to come and go with no real explanation or resolution of its significance.
There were also some lapses in storytelling, resulting in the film feeling draggy in some sections, not to mention ending on a slightly inconclusive and very questionable note. Still, those weaknesses did not deter the strengths of this film. The movie is shot incredibly well, with lighting pitch perfect in almost every shot. It's hard to believe that it was shot almost entirely using digital cameras, and it probably shows a new trend in the next generation of filmmakers.
The acting by all those involved was also very convincing, without any hint of rookie mistakes such as looking directly at the camera. I particularly thought Jemima Kirke, who played Aura's best friend Charlotte, provided great comic relief, and was a refreshingly colorful presence whenever she was on screen. Both Dunham and Kirke are destined for bigger and better roles in the future. It also was a brave move for Dunham to hire her real life mother and sister to play opposite her, and it made the interactions between the three of them highly believable.
Dunham doesn't stop there with the brave moves, though. What other actress, either first starting out or already established, would put themselves up on screen wearing nothing but a T-shirt? She does it, though, and it's because the character she plays, like the story she wrote, is true to herself. Not many other filmmakers are that bold.
While the story is not perfect, and some scenes fail to contribute greatly to the story, "Tiny Furniture" is still a very auspicious movie that film school graduates would probably kill to make. It is similar to Martin Scorsese's debut film "Who's That Knocking At My Door" (1968) and Spike Lee's "She's Gotta Have It" (1986) in that it's a small movie with a lot of promise. While it may not be for everyone, Lena Dunham is still a young filmmaker to watch, and I can't wait to see what she comes out with next.
Fascinating, Devastating Portrayal of Generation Y
nyshrink19 February 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Overall I enjoyed this movie, despite the fact the story ends abruptly without a conclusion of any kind. The writer/director creates authenticity by playing the main character as a version of herself; her mom and sister play the main character's mom and sister, and it's filmed in their apartment. It's more than a self-indulgent exercise; minor characters are interesting (notably "Charlotte") and it's well written. In addition, the writer/director/lead actress shows guts by wearing no makeup in many scenes and showing herself getting dressed and showering despite being quite out of shape. There is no self-consciousness of any kind in these scenes. It is a kind of feminism.
But the real reason I found this film fascinating is how it shows what's changed between my generation (late Baby Boomer) and Generation Y: "Aura," the main character, comes home from college to live with her mom and unlike the youth of my generation, has no problem with living at home. She crawls into bed with her mother when she's feeling down. This isn't an issue because her mom is single; in fact, there's no mention of a father of any kind in the entire film. No one from my generation wanted to live with their parents after college and we did not sleep in our parents' beds past the age of 8, partly because there were usually two of them, including one of the opposite sex. Aura senses that underneath her successful exterior, her mother is lonely. It's unclear who is more needy, Aura or her mother. I came away from this film convinced that the sea change of the past 25 years has been the epidemic of divorce.
"Aura" pursues two men, unaware that neither of them are interested in her and both are loathsome--one has grandiose ideas about a non-existent career while mooching off of friends; another is an underachieving liar and cheat. Perhaps it's Aura's low self-esteem, or maybe her unfamiliarity with men from not having had a father or brother, that makes her unable to see these men as they really are. Perhaps she also can't see that being overweight and having low self-esteem might be barriers to finding the right man.
In one scene, Aura's younger sister has a party and Aura freaks out, afraid she'll be blamed for allowing minors to drink in their apartment. In my generation the 22-year-old would never have assumed this responsibility because high school students were not considered children who needed to be baby-sat. High schoolers in the 1970s and 80s didn't refer to themselves as "kids," as Aura's family does; this term was used to describe 8-year-olds; high school students called each other "people." Aura's mother complains Aura's friend Charlotte is "unsupervised" despite being a 22-year-old adult.
In short this is a perhaps inadvertently devastating portrait of current teens and young adults: Overly close with their often single moms, seeing themselves as being like children, lacking self-consciousness but also lacking self-esteem. The young men have difficulty with commitment and with respect for women (again, probably because of the divorce epidemic but perhaps also because of widespread porn--references to which are made several times in the film) and the young women bond with each other while feeling confused about how to approach the increasingly disinterested and disrespectful men whom they meet. I observe these phenomena or hear about them all the time in my professional practice and seeing a dramatic representation on an intimate scale in this film was quite fascinating.
But the real reason I found this film fascinating is how it shows what's changed between my generation (late Baby Boomer) and Generation Y: "Aura," the main character, comes home from college to live with her mom and unlike the youth of my generation, has no problem with living at home. She crawls into bed with her mother when she's feeling down. This isn't an issue because her mom is single; in fact, there's no mention of a father of any kind in the entire film. No one from my generation wanted to live with their parents after college and we did not sleep in our parents' beds past the age of 8, partly because there were usually two of them, including one of the opposite sex. Aura senses that underneath her successful exterior, her mother is lonely. It's unclear who is more needy, Aura or her mother. I came away from this film convinced that the sea change of the past 25 years has been the epidemic of divorce.
"Aura" pursues two men, unaware that neither of them are interested in her and both are loathsome--one has grandiose ideas about a non-existent career while mooching off of friends; another is an underachieving liar and cheat. Perhaps it's Aura's low self-esteem, or maybe her unfamiliarity with men from not having had a father or brother, that makes her unable to see these men as they really are. Perhaps she also can't see that being overweight and having low self-esteem might be barriers to finding the right man.
In one scene, Aura's younger sister has a party and Aura freaks out, afraid she'll be blamed for allowing minors to drink in their apartment. In my generation the 22-year-old would never have assumed this responsibility because high school students were not considered children who needed to be baby-sat. High schoolers in the 1970s and 80s didn't refer to themselves as "kids," as Aura's family does; this term was used to describe 8-year-olds; high school students called each other "people." Aura's mother complains Aura's friend Charlotte is "unsupervised" despite being a 22-year-old adult.
In short this is a perhaps inadvertently devastating portrait of current teens and young adults: Overly close with their often single moms, seeing themselves as being like children, lacking self-consciousness but also lacking self-esteem. The young men have difficulty with commitment and with respect for women (again, probably because of the divorce epidemic but perhaps also because of widespread porn--references to which are made several times in the film) and the young women bond with each other while feeling confused about how to approach the increasingly disinterested and disrespectful men whom they meet. I observe these phenomena or hear about them all the time in my professional practice and seeing a dramatic representation on an intimate scale in this film was quite fascinating.
Newbie Indie writer/director hits 'jackpot' in quest for potential Hollywood gold
Turfseer11 January 2011
Warning: Spoilers
How many new screenwriters and directors would like to be in Lena Dunham's shoes right now? Two years ago she graduated from Oberlin College and then floated around producing her own small-time web shows. She then writes her first screenplay, raises $25K in cash from friends and family, conscripts her mother and sister to act in the film and shoots a good part of it in her parents' apartment. Before you know it, the film is picked up by IFC and is on 'On Demand'. Now she's also got a deal with HBO to write a TV series about struggling college graduates in NYC.
The question remains—does this neophyte deserve the accolades heaped upon her? Dunham's story is largely autobiographical. She plays a more confused version of herself named Aura with her own mother playing the fictional mother, Siri, an artsy photographer. The film's title refers to the mother's use of miniatures during her photography sessions. Also in the mix is Dunham's real-life sister, Grace, who plays the fictional sister, Nadine.
The film begins with Aura returning from college where she created some artsy videos that made a small splash on campus. Aura's plan is to move out of her mother's apartment and in with a roommate from college. She has a cynical, diva-like friend, Charlotte, deliciously played by Jemima Kirke, who encourages her to be more open about her sexuality. Aura befriends Jed, an aimless young man in his 20s, who deludes himself into believing that he'll be hired by TV executives based on a number of unfunny videos he's posted on Youtube. Aura invites Jed to stay in the family apartment for a few days while her mother and sister are away. There's very little conflict in the story until Aura has a fight with her mother about Jed staying as a guest a bit longer. Siri insists that Jed leave and Aura finally capitulates and orders him out of the apartment.
The other part of the plot involves Aura taking a job as a day hostess at a bar/restaurant. There she meets Keith, a sou chef who stands her up on a date. For some reason, Aura finds Keith attractive and eventually they have sex together inside a pipe at a construction site. Suffice it to say, the sex is not a very rewarding experience for Aura who basically goes back home and cries on her mother's shoulder. What's more, Aura nixes the idea of moving in with her college chum and will remain under the parental fold until she has things more together.
I also should mention that there's also a preceding scene where Aura argues with her sister about bringing 25 of her friends to the apartment, some of whom, to Aura's chagrin, end up thoroughly plastered.
Unfortunately, due to her age, Dunham's experiences in life are predictably limited. Hence, the subject matter isn't very compelling. Without an exciting plot, Dunham falls back on creating a caricature of herself as a bit of a sad sack who can't seem to get it together. On the plus side, the best friend character (Charlotte) and that of the mother, are witty and endearing, which saves the story from descending into full-blown melodrama. The same cannot be said for the two male characters who have little to say or do.
Tiny Furniture is billed as a comedy but Aura's constant angst concerning her life path undercuts the film's attempts at humor. According to the film's producers, when the film was screened in Israel, a group of therapists approached Dunham and asked her if she was okay; suggesting that people outside the United States might view this film more as a tortured coming of age story as opposed to the humorous spectacle Dunham was aiming for.
Aside from the weak screenplay, Tiny Furniture features some excellent performances as well as nifty cinematography and editing. The film has a very professional look and it's amazing that it was made on such a shoestring budget and in such a short amount of time (I believe it took about 20 days to film). Dunham probably has more potential as a director than screenwriter. I'm hoping she'll have more to write about in the future than simple autobiographical tales of recent angst-ridden college graduates. Otherwise she may end up like Orson Welles—a wunderkind whose flame burned out much too early.
The question remains—does this neophyte deserve the accolades heaped upon her? Dunham's story is largely autobiographical. She plays a more confused version of herself named Aura with her own mother playing the fictional mother, Siri, an artsy photographer. The film's title refers to the mother's use of miniatures during her photography sessions. Also in the mix is Dunham's real-life sister, Grace, who plays the fictional sister, Nadine.
The film begins with Aura returning from college where she created some artsy videos that made a small splash on campus. Aura's plan is to move out of her mother's apartment and in with a roommate from college. She has a cynical, diva-like friend, Charlotte, deliciously played by Jemima Kirke, who encourages her to be more open about her sexuality. Aura befriends Jed, an aimless young man in his 20s, who deludes himself into believing that he'll be hired by TV executives based on a number of unfunny videos he's posted on Youtube. Aura invites Jed to stay in the family apartment for a few days while her mother and sister are away. There's very little conflict in the story until Aura has a fight with her mother about Jed staying as a guest a bit longer. Siri insists that Jed leave and Aura finally capitulates and orders him out of the apartment.
The other part of the plot involves Aura taking a job as a day hostess at a bar/restaurant. There she meets Keith, a sou chef who stands her up on a date. For some reason, Aura finds Keith attractive and eventually they have sex together inside a pipe at a construction site. Suffice it to say, the sex is not a very rewarding experience for Aura who basically goes back home and cries on her mother's shoulder. What's more, Aura nixes the idea of moving in with her college chum and will remain under the parental fold until she has things more together.
I also should mention that there's also a preceding scene where Aura argues with her sister about bringing 25 of her friends to the apartment, some of whom, to Aura's chagrin, end up thoroughly plastered.
Unfortunately, due to her age, Dunham's experiences in life are predictably limited. Hence, the subject matter isn't very compelling. Without an exciting plot, Dunham falls back on creating a caricature of herself as a bit of a sad sack who can't seem to get it together. On the plus side, the best friend character (Charlotte) and that of the mother, are witty and endearing, which saves the story from descending into full-blown melodrama. The same cannot be said for the two male characters who have little to say or do.
Tiny Furniture is billed as a comedy but Aura's constant angst concerning her life path undercuts the film's attempts at humor. According to the film's producers, when the film was screened in Israel, a group of therapists approached Dunham and asked her if she was okay; suggesting that people outside the United States might view this film more as a tortured coming of age story as opposed to the humorous spectacle Dunham was aiming for.
Aside from the weak screenplay, Tiny Furniture features some excellent performances as well as nifty cinematography and editing. The film has a very professional look and it's amazing that it was made on such a shoestring budget and in such a short amount of time (I believe it took about 20 days to film). Dunham probably has more potential as a director than screenwriter. I'm hoping she'll have more to write about in the future than simple autobiographical tales of recent angst-ridden college graduates. Otherwise she may end up like Orson Welles—a wunderkind whose flame burned out much too early.
I too am having a very, very hard time. Like a tiny chair. This movie is not easy to sit through.
ironhorse_iv12 February 2020
Warning: Spoilers
I always had mixed feelings about New York filmmaker Lena Dunham. While her outspoken presence on social media and in interviews have attracted significant controversy, criticism and media scrutiny throughout her career mostly with her views on racial and women rights. I do feel like her work on films is not god awful. Honestly, if you like Dunham's work on the HBO Television Show 'Girls', then this independent movie is for you. Not only does the film features some of the same cast members, including Alex Karpovsky as Youtuber personality named Jed and Jemima Kirke as a drug addict friend named Charlotte. "Tiny Furniture' has a very similar plot to the first season of that show with a young woman, Aura (Lena Dunham) trying to figure out what to do with her life while living in New York City. Most of it drawn from the filmmaker's own life struggles. The failure to launch themes involving her are so familiar that the movie could be called a quasi-autobiographical. After all, Dunham's own mother artist Laurie Simmons and sister Cyrus Grace Dunham stars in the film as characters loosely based on themselves. While the movie can be seemed as a bit nepotism due to that and her mother financing the project. They still had all great on-screen chemistry. Yet the film is harder to watch now due to the controversy surrounding passages in Lena's 2014 memoir 'Not That Kind of Girl' which recount childhood interactions between then seven Lena and then 1 year old Cyrus engage in what many perceived as a sexual act with each other. Now that is a disturbing especially when most of the film has the adult them walking around in their underwear talking about sexual things with each other. If that wasn't weird enough, the comedy also shown most of Dunham's early viral online videos like 2007 'The Fountain', which depicted her in a bikini brushing her teeth in the public fountain at Oberlin College as odd art pieces shown for the public. I really didn't get what the film was going with the whole depiction of internet culture. To be truthful, even with that in the movie. The film still doesn't really stand out much as it could had. Like other mumblecore films before this, a single white young person who fairly is aimless in both their professional and personal lives had better told. One such example is 2002 Andrew Bujalski movie 'Funny Haha' that got praise by critics for its realism and won an Independent Spirit Award the following year. Don't get me wrong, Dunham's film also won an Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay, but I don't see why. Her script was drawn out, highly repetitive and somewhat full of uncreative not raw natural dialogue. Add all the first world self-entitled annoying whinny moments without much redemption arch. It was enough to turn me off at parts. Regardless I do like that this movie has better acting than Bujalski's flick. Plus, some of the throw away jokes like the sex in the construction site pipes with Keith (David Call) were entertaining funny. Even some of the discussions hit my funny bone despite it dragging the film down like the Nietzsche cowboy sequences. Another thing the movie got going for it, is the amazing cinematography. Everything seems well shot; especially whenever Aura is lying down being depress or lazy while talking to somebody who is somewhat off-frame in the same room whom doing something productive. You really get the sense of how she can believe that the world centered around her. The soundtrack is also pretty good. Music by Teddy Blanks of The Gaskets, Domino, Rebecca Schiffman and others really does add to the story of the film during the party's sequences. The rest of the movie not so much. Regardless, overall: While this film made producer Judd Apatow a fan of her, I can't say the same with me. I don't even believe this movie deserve to be in the Criterion Collection along in the same vein as Mike Nichol's masterpiece 1967's 'The Graduate', another film similar to this. They shouldn't be in the same room together. One is like a dirty sofa cover with cat fur, pee and scratches from a thrift store. The other is comfortable recliner from IKEA. It's clear as day which one I will buy. I'm sorry Dunham's fans, no amount of moving the living room furnitures around to gain feng shei will ever get me to watch this movie again. It's a one time sit.
utterly unredeemable
fantod6416 January 2012
i watch a lot of movies, on average 3-4 a week, in all sorts of genres, and i tend to be forgiving of indie filmmakers... but i can only say that this "movie" is an utter waste of celluloid. there is simply no reason for it to have ever been made. beyond the poor acting, uninspired plot and pointless story, not a single character is likable or interesting. i kept watching in the hope that i might find something to care about, with regard to any of the characters, but that hope was in vain. this is the kind of directionless ego-project that gives indie film a bad name. as with books that are written just so someone can claim the title of "author", movies made just so someone can say they made a movie should be banned.
the plight of an average woman
richarddlee8131 July 2013
you have to watch this film through the eyes of a woman... it is the plight of an average looking woman in a world full of attractive people... she is constantly overlooked, used, and abused because both men and women do not find worth in her because of her average looks... in addition, she is attracted to attractive people both men and woman because of their attractiveness... this basic concept, i believe is overlooked in most of my observations in the reviews that have been posted about this film... the film is beautifully filmed with great set design... the dialogue is realistic... the set design is believable... it is painful to watch because it teaches us what our modern society values in men and women...
Lena Dunham is a female Woody Allen.
mtbgtown10 November 2012
Okay, it's really charming that this girl and her sister and mom look so natural on the screen, blah blah blah, that's out of the way.
Entitled privileged brat? So what? If you watch any old Woody Allen movie you see exactly the same thing: people in their early twenties falling into high brow writing careers and legal partnerships and bitching all the way, that's the genre. Lena manages to duplicate, or emulate, a Woody Allen movie complete with all the vulnerability, self-reflection and humor. She even drops one-liners, highly quotable ones: "I'm really tired. I took three klonopin and woke up next to a spoon full of peanut butter." And like a Woody Allen movie, there is no plot and the hero doesn't change or learn. But you'll stay interested. I would have given it an "8" but her Obama commercial was heinous. As a netflix movie, it's a strong 7.
Entitled privileged brat? So what? If you watch any old Woody Allen movie you see exactly the same thing: people in their early twenties falling into high brow writing careers and legal partnerships and bitching all the way, that's the genre. Lena manages to duplicate, or emulate, a Woody Allen movie complete with all the vulnerability, self-reflection and humor. She even drops one-liners, highly quotable ones: "I'm really tired. I took three klonopin and woke up next to a spoon full of peanut butter." And like a Woody Allen movie, there is no plot and the hero doesn't change or learn. But you'll stay interested. I would have given it an "8" but her Obama commercial was heinous. As a netflix movie, it's a strong 7.
Thoroughly and obnoxiously bad
MrJackHoliday8 December 2013
This is the worst movie I've ever seen, and I typically enjoy movies of this nature (slower, deliberate about emotional development). I'll break it down:
Dialogue - This bothered me most and was the most distracting. It was completely stilted and lacked any flow.
Characters - Totally unsympathetic people. Generally underdeveloped.
Plot - Post college malaise is ripe with potential for a story, yet it feels as if it is only used as a plot device to introduce the pathetic characters and their terrible dialogue.
Nothing in the movie is particular funny, but it is a bit pretentious, making this movie completely unwatchable.
On a side note, I have never seen Girls, but after this drivel, I hope I never do.
Dialogue - This bothered me most and was the most distracting. It was completely stilted and lacked any flow.
Characters - Totally unsympathetic people. Generally underdeveloped.
Plot - Post college malaise is ripe with potential for a story, yet it feels as if it is only used as a plot device to introduce the pathetic characters and their terrible dialogue.
Nothing in the movie is particular funny, but it is a bit pretentious, making this movie completely unwatchable.
On a side note, I have never seen Girls, but after this drivel, I hope I never do.
Moving Back in with Mom
evanston_dad29 August 2012
This quiet, unassuming movie about a recent college graduate who moves back in with her mom and sister while trying to figure out what to do with her life got under my skin and stayed there.
Director Lena Dunham, who also stars in the film as Aura, has a knack for putting together individual scenes that play as if nothing of much significance is happening in them, but that when put together as a whole reveal an awful lot about the lives of her characters. Much of the film follows Aura as she aimlessly hangs out with friends, meets guys, gets a job. She's awkward and maybe an easy target, but she's also sweet and harmless and easy enough to root for. She gets on her mom's nerves and vice versa, fights with her sister, and overstays her welcome in her mom's house. We've seen it all before, right?
Not really. "Tiny Furniture" may be about subject matter we've seen done a hundred times, but it felt like a totally unique take on it. In fact, it's not until the film's final moments, and when you're thinking about it afterwards, that you realize the movie isn't really that much about Aura's ennui and lack of direction; it's about her relationship with her mom, a fact that's easy to overlook by the small amount of screen time the mom has. By the end of the movie, Aura's increasingly destructive and increasingly disturbing behavior seems less like a lonely girl's attempts to fill the boring hours of her day, and instead like the ever-more-desperate attempt of a child trying to force an absentee parent into taking notice of her.
This is a really wonderful movie with tiny nuances in the direction and acting that set it apart from other indie films like it.
Grade: A
Director Lena Dunham, who also stars in the film as Aura, has a knack for putting together individual scenes that play as if nothing of much significance is happening in them, but that when put together as a whole reveal an awful lot about the lives of her characters. Much of the film follows Aura as she aimlessly hangs out with friends, meets guys, gets a job. She's awkward and maybe an easy target, but she's also sweet and harmless and easy enough to root for. She gets on her mom's nerves and vice versa, fights with her sister, and overstays her welcome in her mom's house. We've seen it all before, right?
Not really. "Tiny Furniture" may be about subject matter we've seen done a hundred times, but it felt like a totally unique take on it. In fact, it's not until the film's final moments, and when you're thinking about it afterwards, that you realize the movie isn't really that much about Aura's ennui and lack of direction; it's about her relationship with her mom, a fact that's easy to overlook by the small amount of screen time the mom has. By the end of the movie, Aura's increasingly destructive and increasingly disturbing behavior seems less like a lonely girl's attempts to fill the boring hours of her day, and instead like the ever-more-desperate attempt of a child trying to force an absentee parent into taking notice of her.
This is a really wonderful movie with tiny nuances in the direction and acting that set it apart from other indie films like it.
Grade: A
Tiny Furniture written and directed by Lena Dunham will need determination to finish to the end but worth a watch
valturner611 November 2012
TINY FURNITURE by Val Turner 15 Cert, 119 min; director; Lena Dunham; Starring Lena Dunham, Laurie Simmons, Grace Dunham, Jemima Kirke.
Lena Dunham wrote and directed this smart comedy drama about a media student, Aura, who after graduation returns to the family home in New York, unemployed, adrift, overweight and plain. It is obvious from the thread of conflict that runs through the film, that her successful photographer mother (Laurie Simmons) and pretty intelligent sister (Grace Dunham) see Aura as an intrusion in their perfect, trendy life.
As Aura drudges from one scene to another, allowing her self-centred friend Charlotte (Jemima Kirke) possible boyfriends Jed (Alex Karpousky) and Keith (David Call) wipe their feet as they walk all over her, you find yourself willing her to get a grip and take control.
In truth nothing really happens in the film and a standard beginning, middle and end structure does not apply. However, despite the fact that it feels that Aura is swimming through a bowl of blancmange, this is her life and it is this sludge that holds you steady waiting for something to happen. There are poignantly funny moments particularly the conflict between mother v daughter and sister v sister and Aura's pathetic attempt to get herself into the arty scene by posting a Youtube film of her in her undies washing her teeth in a fountain.
In fact Dunham spends as much time as possible in her underpants and baggy shirt, which does not flatter her unflattering shape. It is this self-effacing, actually closer to self-deprecating characteristic of Dunham that should feel refreshing but actually she does scrub up quite well and you are left irritated with her for not making the best of what she has.
The film was named as Best Narrative Feature at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. It also won Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards and New Generation Award by the LA Film Critics Association along with nominations for Best Cinematography and Best First Feature. Recognition has catapulted this young writer/director into the limelight and has since produced "Girls" which on the face of it appears to be a sequel to "Tiny Furniture" given that Dunham and her friend Kirke play very similar characters. It's not and you do wonder how much the audience can take of this hapless young woman.
Tiny Furniture is poignant and in these present economic times the story will resonate with graduates in similar positions. Perhaps they should all do what Lena Dunham has done and make a docudrama which may suck them out of the abyss and throw them into stardom.
Lena Dunham wrote and directed this smart comedy drama about a media student, Aura, who after graduation returns to the family home in New York, unemployed, adrift, overweight and plain. It is obvious from the thread of conflict that runs through the film, that her successful photographer mother (Laurie Simmons) and pretty intelligent sister (Grace Dunham) see Aura as an intrusion in their perfect, trendy life.
As Aura drudges from one scene to another, allowing her self-centred friend Charlotte (Jemima Kirke) possible boyfriends Jed (Alex Karpousky) and Keith (David Call) wipe their feet as they walk all over her, you find yourself willing her to get a grip and take control.
In truth nothing really happens in the film and a standard beginning, middle and end structure does not apply. However, despite the fact that it feels that Aura is swimming through a bowl of blancmange, this is her life and it is this sludge that holds you steady waiting for something to happen. There are poignantly funny moments particularly the conflict between mother v daughter and sister v sister and Aura's pathetic attempt to get herself into the arty scene by posting a Youtube film of her in her undies washing her teeth in a fountain.
In fact Dunham spends as much time as possible in her underpants and baggy shirt, which does not flatter her unflattering shape. It is this self-effacing, actually closer to self-deprecating characteristic of Dunham that should feel refreshing but actually she does scrub up quite well and you are left irritated with her for not making the best of what she has.
The film was named as Best Narrative Feature at the 2010 South by Southwest Film Festival. It also won Best First Screenplay at the Independent Spirit Awards and New Generation Award by the LA Film Critics Association along with nominations for Best Cinematography and Best First Feature. Recognition has catapulted this young writer/director into the limelight and has since produced "Girls" which on the face of it appears to be a sequel to "Tiny Furniture" given that Dunham and her friend Kirke play very similar characters. It's not and you do wonder how much the audience can take of this hapless young woman.
Tiny Furniture is poignant and in these present economic times the story will resonate with graduates in similar positions. Perhaps they should all do what Lena Dunham has done and make a docudrama which may suck them out of the abyss and throw them into stardom.
Pretentious Drivel
leah297413 February 2014
Warning: Spoilers
Even as a fan of indie films and movies that are driven by character over plot, I found Tiny Furniture to be appallingly bad. The characters are all not only stereotypes but despicable people. The dialogue is as bad as the dialogue in The Phantom Menace. Absolutely nothing is learned by the characters, and if anything could be learned by the audience, it would be a brief, boring insight into the lives of very, very dull people.
Aura, the protagonist is an entitled, self-pitying post-grad student who flounders awkwardly through bad choices and bratty behavior and passes it off as self discovery.
Aura's mother fits every cliché of the rich, distant, oblivious parent who simultaneously fosters and disapproves of her daughter's bad habits.
The men at whom Aura throws herself are the worst part of the film. These men are supposed to be presented to us as unique and deep--one is broke and a freeloader, but he makes YouTube videos in which he quotes Nietzsche while riding a rocking horse. The other is a cook who cheats on his girlfriend and only shows interest in Aura after she indicates she can get him pills, but--he reads novels and wears a fedora. These men take advantage of her in the most blatant ways possible, apparently without her noticing.
However, it's hard to feel sympathy for Aura when people take advantage of her because she also takes advantage of others. She takes her mother's money, food, and wine without a thought and lies when confronted about it. She reads her mother's diary without permission and lets a man she just met live in her mother's bedroom while she's gone.
Aura has one friend in the film who seems to truly care about her. And while Aura appears ready to do anything for her new friends who treat her like trash, she ignores, snubs, and drives away the one good friend.
The plot plods through the mundane activities of Aura's days. The more mundane the activity, the harder she fails in completing it. She is constantly late for her job as a day hostess. She can't rouse herself to put on pants for half the film. She is often shot lying on the floor, even while carrying on conversations, babysitting, and showering.
All in all, the film is about a lazy, self-indulgent child in the body of an adult who, for whatever reason, is unable to handle any measure of responsibility. Pretension and privilege drive the film, which seems meant to cater to the hipster/indie film crowd on the surface level, without the depth of many other films in the same genre. A depressing, cliché movie at best and an abomination at worst.
Aura, the protagonist is an entitled, self-pitying post-grad student who flounders awkwardly through bad choices and bratty behavior and passes it off as self discovery.
Aura's mother fits every cliché of the rich, distant, oblivious parent who simultaneously fosters and disapproves of her daughter's bad habits.
The men at whom Aura throws herself are the worst part of the film. These men are supposed to be presented to us as unique and deep--one is broke and a freeloader, but he makes YouTube videos in which he quotes Nietzsche while riding a rocking horse. The other is a cook who cheats on his girlfriend and only shows interest in Aura after she indicates she can get him pills, but--he reads novels and wears a fedora. These men take advantage of her in the most blatant ways possible, apparently without her noticing.
However, it's hard to feel sympathy for Aura when people take advantage of her because she also takes advantage of others. She takes her mother's money, food, and wine without a thought and lies when confronted about it. She reads her mother's diary without permission and lets a man she just met live in her mother's bedroom while she's gone.
Aura has one friend in the film who seems to truly care about her. And while Aura appears ready to do anything for her new friends who treat her like trash, she ignores, snubs, and drives away the one good friend.
The plot plods through the mundane activities of Aura's days. The more mundane the activity, the harder she fails in completing it. She is constantly late for her job as a day hostess. She can't rouse herself to put on pants for half the film. She is often shot lying on the floor, even while carrying on conversations, babysitting, and showering.
All in all, the film is about a lazy, self-indulgent child in the body of an adult who, for whatever reason, is unable to handle any measure of responsibility. Pretension and privilege drive the film, which seems meant to cater to the hipster/indie film crowd on the surface level, without the depth of many other films in the same genre. A depressing, cliché movie at best and an abomination at worst.
An excellent look at insecurity and self-realization
delft_blue22 January 2012
Warning: Spoilers
Aura is 22, a recent film school graduate recently dumped by her boyfriend of two years, who's left for Colorado to find his family roots. Aura's own family consists of her successful artist mother, who lives in TriBeca and has a studio where she takes photographs of objects next to doll house-sized furniture. Her sister is a pretentious high school student who seems to excel wherever Aura fails. The film follows Aura as she tries to fit back into the life she left behind, and as she struggles to find her way into the next stage of life. This is a really beautiful look at insecurity and the subtle ways that people go about trying to placate and impress others. Aura meets two men, a self-absorbed YouTube "artist" whom she allows to take advantage of her generosity, and a bored sous chef with an appetite for pills. Both men, along with several friends and her own family members, serve to highlight how insecure Aura really is, and show that deep-down she has a kindness that others know how to exploit. As Aura struggles to find herself and somehow realize who she is and where she's going, viewers are treated to a rare glimpse of how deeply sad she is, and ultimately trapped by her tendency to want to please.
Not amazing, but more real than you think...
mojojones771 May 2012
By Maurice Jones 'Tiny Furniture' has a 'hipster' creed all over it by the look, which makes most people tray away from it. Myself being one of these people, I none the less decided to check it out as you can never always tell something just by the trailer and I heard Lena Dunham's life is as portrayed in the movie, so it wasn't necessarily a style choice, not that that's important.
'Tiny Furniture' opens as you'd expect it too, down to the music. It unleashes a post 'Juno' independent film vibe that makes you wish more creative thought was put into this opening, however that's not the point to the film and if that is what Lena Dunham wanted to do based on reality, so be it.
Immediately from the start you get an amateurish film making shot after shot, from which you start to feel as I did; how did Lena Durham even get her own T.V. show? The acting itself, is.... well, amateurish to say the least at first and once to get to meet Aura's friends some might not be able to get past the fact that everyone in the film looks dressed straight out of the 'Urban Outfitters' catalogue but this is not unbelievable or relevant. You soon realize that the spark of the film is not the style but the fact that the way the characters react to each other is quite real even to the point that the film allows you to figure out for yourself as to what Aura actually feels for her friends and family. It doesn't beat you over the head as to how to perceive each character but rather truly puts enough out there, and leaves you to put down your own slight possibility of who they are, kind of like figuring people out in real-life, which isn't easy to portray on paper. The film is also very aware of what the audience thinks or what the audience would do in certain situations. So, when you say to yourself, I hope this goes down this way because that's what would happen, it does. And with that I give Lena Dunham credit for being true to her audience self, therefore being a true movie fan and doing something realistic for the sake of logic and not for the sake of relating, which someone might misconstrued the movies point as. A movie like this is around to show that this reality is okay and exists, because as we all know, society imitates art. If you don't relate to this movie, it's probably because you're not in your twenties or you're less neurotic of a person but trust me the setting of the movie couldn't be less of the point. This is a different looking version of a too real reality of today's twenty-somethings.
In the end 'Tiny Furniture' actually respects reality and what it has to offer as entertainment, avoiding emotional clichés, unlike the movie 'Young Adult' which involves many clichés, yet expects us to think it's different after it's all said and done. There are obvious problems with 'Tiny Furniture' but I've still haven't seen many movies like it, that respects the truth so much to allow it to play out as it does, that's why I like it, it's just straight up refreshing. To understand 'Tiny Furniture' you have to sit down and watch it in its entirety and see what happens, like life itself.
'Tiny Furniture' opens as you'd expect it too, down to the music. It unleashes a post 'Juno' independent film vibe that makes you wish more creative thought was put into this opening, however that's not the point to the film and if that is what Lena Dunham wanted to do based on reality, so be it.
Immediately from the start you get an amateurish film making shot after shot, from which you start to feel as I did; how did Lena Durham even get her own T.V. show? The acting itself, is.... well, amateurish to say the least at first and once to get to meet Aura's friends some might not be able to get past the fact that everyone in the film looks dressed straight out of the 'Urban Outfitters' catalogue but this is not unbelievable or relevant. You soon realize that the spark of the film is not the style but the fact that the way the characters react to each other is quite real even to the point that the film allows you to figure out for yourself as to what Aura actually feels for her friends and family. It doesn't beat you over the head as to how to perceive each character but rather truly puts enough out there, and leaves you to put down your own slight possibility of who they are, kind of like figuring people out in real-life, which isn't easy to portray on paper. The film is also very aware of what the audience thinks or what the audience would do in certain situations. So, when you say to yourself, I hope this goes down this way because that's what would happen, it does. And with that I give Lena Dunham credit for being true to her audience self, therefore being a true movie fan and doing something realistic for the sake of logic and not for the sake of relating, which someone might misconstrued the movies point as. A movie like this is around to show that this reality is okay and exists, because as we all know, society imitates art. If you don't relate to this movie, it's probably because you're not in your twenties or you're less neurotic of a person but trust me the setting of the movie couldn't be less of the point. This is a different looking version of a too real reality of today's twenty-somethings.
In the end 'Tiny Furniture' actually respects reality and what it has to offer as entertainment, avoiding emotional clichés, unlike the movie 'Young Adult' which involves many clichés, yet expects us to think it's different after it's all said and done. There are obvious problems with 'Tiny Furniture' but I've still haven't seen many movies like it, that respects the truth so much to allow it to play out as it does, that's why I like it, it's just straight up refreshing. To understand 'Tiny Furniture' you have to sit down and watch it in its entirety and see what happens, like life itself.
White people problems
ibrahimtamerm12 June 2013
By far the worst movie I've seen this year (so far). It felt like someone is trying to make an indie hipster film because making indie hipster films are in.
The acting was so so so bad. When the sisters were arguing - I thought they would break into laughter.
I cared nothing for any character. They were all self-involved rude (not in a witty or interesting way either) bourgeois white people living somewhere in NYC where there you don't see two black people even in the street shots.
She's home from college with no direction. Boo hoo.
The acting was so so so bad. When the sisters were arguing - I thought they would break into laughter.
I cared nothing for any character. They were all self-involved rude (not in a witty or interesting way either) bourgeois white people living somewhere in NYC where there you don't see two black people even in the street shots.
She's home from college with no direction. Boo hoo.
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