Tuesday, October 24, 2006
The Puffy Chair (2005)
Director: Jay Duplass
There are 2 possible reasons to reward The Puffy Chair with your dollars and your viewing time. 1. It is obviously extremely low budget. I mean the tapes I sent of myself to the National Board look equal in quality to this thing. So if you appreciate someone who must have worked like hell to get his cheapy-film up on the big screen, watch it. 2. I recommend The Puffy Chair for its rarity of theme: it is a break-up film. And even as most of the plot is ridiculous, the film does capture with verisimilitude the emotional ups and downs, the fears and anger of a staggeringly slow break-up.
First, in the opening scene the hero and heroine’s dysfunctional relationship is well established. Next, you get the typical road film filled with hyjinx, odd characters, chance encounters and absurd problems which must be overcome. Finally in the last scene the hero and heroine are talking in the park. Now most films, no, 99% of films, would have our hero and heroine reflecting on all they have learned about each other and themselves on the way down to Atlanta from NYC. There would be nauseating speeches in which each would now realize they needed the other to tackle life’s problems, just as they tackled problems on the road together. Finally the hero would propose to our heroine in the park, in the sunshine near his parents’ home. And I would vomit. But instead, they decide to break-up, and it feels the way breaking-up feels. They look at each other and with a whimper say, I think we should break-up when we get back to New York. And it is agreed. Quite, true, fade to credits.
So I say The Puffy Chair is worth it because so few films, especially films so closely following a screw-ball comedy pattern, have the guts to get to the final scene and say: you know what, never mind.
Quick Notes:
1. There is much that is not interesting about this film, and much that is down right annoying.
2. I’ve read reviews that have said the actual puffy chair is a symbol of the protagonist’s childhood showing the reality of the past is far different from your fond memories. No! The puffy chair is a physical representation of the dysfunction and death of the hero and heroine’s relationship. Stupid reviewers.
There are 2 possible reasons to reward The Puffy Chair with your dollars and your viewing time. 1. It is obviously extremely low budget. I mean the tapes I sent of myself to the National Board look equal in quality to this thing. So if you appreciate someone who must have worked like hell to get his cheapy-film up on the big screen, watch it. 2. I recommend The Puffy Chair for its rarity of theme: it is a break-up film. And even as most of the plot is ridiculous, the film does capture with verisimilitude the emotional ups and downs, the fears and anger of a staggeringly slow break-up.
First, in the opening scene the hero and heroine’s dysfunctional relationship is well established. Next, you get the typical road film filled with hyjinx, odd characters, chance encounters and absurd problems which must be overcome. Finally in the last scene the hero and heroine are talking in the park. Now most films, no, 99% of films, would have our hero and heroine reflecting on all they have learned about each other and themselves on the way down to Atlanta from NYC. There would be nauseating speeches in which each would now realize they needed the other to tackle life’s problems, just as they tackled problems on the road together. Finally the hero would propose to our heroine in the park, in the sunshine near his parents’ home. And I would vomit. But instead, they decide to break-up, and it feels the way breaking-up feels. They look at each other and with a whimper say, I think we should break-up when we get back to New York. And it is agreed. Quite, true, fade to credits.
So I say The Puffy Chair is worth it because so few films, especially films so closely following a screw-ball comedy pattern, have the guts to get to the final scene and say: you know what, never mind.
Quick Notes:
1. There is much that is not interesting about this film, and much that is down right annoying.
2. I’ve read reviews that have said the actual puffy chair is a symbol of the protagonist’s childhood showing the reality of the past is far different from your fond memories. No! The puffy chair is a physical representation of the dysfunction and death of the hero and heroine’s relationship. Stupid reviewers.
