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Laramie Movie Scope:
Tiny Furniture

An update on The Graduate

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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December 2, 2010 -- “Tiny Furniture” reminds me a little bit of “The Graduate,” minus the humor, the great acting, the romance and a compelling story. It is about a young woman who has just graduated from college and is trying to figure out what to do with her life. She bumbles around trying this and that and makes a mess of most things. She is filled with longing and anger and confusion. She is trying to find herself, but doesn't seem to know where to look.

The graduate in this case is Aura (played by Lena Dunham, who also wrote and directed this film). She's just home from college in the midwest and has moved back into her mother's huge New York City apartment with her younger sister (Aura's mother, Siri, and sister, Nadine are played by Lena Dunham's real mother, Laurie Simmons and real sister, Grace Dunham and that is Laurie Simons' own apartment and we see in the film). Aura seems exhausted all the time. She just wants to sleep. She is annoyed that her mother wants her to help out around the house, taking out the garbage and cleaning the cat litter box and other unpleasant chores.

She meets an old friend, Charlotte (Jemima Kirke) at a party, where she also meets a minor Youtube celebrity, Jed (Alex Karpovsky). She wants to hook up with Jed, but reluctantly goes off to talk with Charlotte. She seems distant from Charlotte and from her best friend in college, Frankie (Merritt Wever of “The Messenger”). She agrees to share an apartment with Frankie in New York City and then reneges on this agreement at the last minute. Frankie confronts her about her failed promises. Aura's mother (who is an artist who photographs miniatures) also confronts her about her failed promises as well. Aura promises to do things, but then simply doesn't do them. Aura tells Charlotte she can't stay with her because her mother needs her, even though that's a lie. Aura tells her mother that she loves living at home, even though her mother and sister constantly belittle and criticize her at every opportunity, and there are many opportunities.

Aura seems to be determined to be the queen of bad choices, romantic and otherwise. She takes a job, then quits in less than a week. She has humiliating sex with a married man who clearly has little regard for her. She brings the Youtube artist, Jed, home to stay in her mother's apartment while her mother and sister are gone. Her mother disapproves when she comes back from her trip and finds a man in the apartment. “You aren't even having sex,” her mother says. Like that would make things better.

After all of Aura's bumbling around, she finally confesses the truth about her feelings to her mother, who reassures her that Aura will be a bigger success than she is, but probably not as successful as her overachieving sister. It is a nice, heart-to-heart talk in a film otherwise filled with arms-length hostility and alienation.

This film is notable most of all for it's honest portrayal of people and how they behave. Most of the people in this film are not glamorous. Some are just barely attractive. They look like normal people, not super models or movie stars. That's probably because most of the main characters are not, in fact, movie stars. There isn't much of a story arc here. It is just a small slice of life, but it is a very believable slice. Aura is a compelling character, who, despite all her bad choices, seems worthy of some sympathy. She's having a hard time adjusting to post-graduate life in the real world, and she's not the first person to have that problem. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2010 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)