I've been a fan of mumblecore films since the genre arose in the early 2000s. While they are works of fiction, these low-budget, talky, relationship-centric films are often uncannily realistic. The charm of mumblecore is that the characters are everyday people who encounter everyday situations; they could be our friends and family members, and their stories could be our stories.
The 2009 film Beeswax, the third feature from filmmaker Andrew Bujalski, is an exceptional example of the genre. Now available on DVD, Beeswax is the antitheses of mainstream filmmaking. A slow-paced, narrowly focused, mostly plotless examination of human relationships, it has nary a Hollywood-glamorous character, formulaic romance or action sequence. Beeswax focuses on the ordinary -- but it does so with such skillful attention to detail that the film is in many ways extraordinary.
Bear with me while I describe what passes for the plot of Beeswax. The film follows two twentysomething twin sisters,...
The 2009 film Beeswax, the third feature from filmmaker Andrew Bujalski, is an exceptional example of the genre. Now available on DVD, Beeswax is the antitheses of mainstream filmmaking. A slow-paced, narrowly focused, mostly plotless examination of human relationships, it has nary a Hollywood-glamorous character, formulaic romance or action sequence. Beeswax focuses on the ordinary -- but it does so with such skillful attention to detail that the film is in many ways extraordinary.
Bear with me while I describe what passes for the plot of Beeswax. The film follows two twentysomething twin sisters,...
- 4/20/2010
- by Don Clinchy
- Slackerwood
Director: Andrew Bujalski Writer(s): Andrew Bujalskiv Starring: Tilly Hatcher, Anne Dodge, Maggie Hatcher, Alex Karpovsky Writer-director Andrew Bujalski (Funny Ha Ha, Mutual Appreciation) has a tendency to plunge at once in medias res; such is the case with Beeswax – Bujalski hints that a larger narrative exists as the audience stumbles into the midst of the drama… Jeannie (Tilly Hatcher) co-owns a vintage boutique in Austin, TX with an estranged friend, Amanda (Anne Dodge). Jeannie (from whose perspective the story is told) is apparently the more dedicated of the two owners. She spends a majority of her time managing the day-to-day operations of the boutique, while Amanda is essentially an absentee partner. Despite their ownership contract (which was written by Amanda’s father – and Jeannie has become suspicious that it strongly favors Amanda), the two partners have a bitter and jaded history of making business decisions without consulting each other.
- 10/10/2009
- by Don Simpson
- SmellsLikeScreenSpirit
As Mark Twain didn't say, reports of the death of mumblecore are greatly exaggerated. As proof, I offer Andrew Bujalski's wise and wondrous "Beeswax."
Bujalski has been called the godfather of mumblecore, being that his "Funny Ha Ha" (2002) launched the movement. (He also directed "Mutual Appreciation," in 2006.)
"Beeswax" revolves around twin 20-something sisters in Austin, Texas. Jeannie, who lives a full life despite being confined to a wheelchair, co-owns a vintage-clothing boutique. Sister Lauren is between jobs and boyfriends, and is...
Bujalski has been called the godfather of mumblecore, being that his "Funny Ha Ha" (2002) launched the movement. (He also directed "Mutual Appreciation," in 2006.)
"Beeswax" revolves around twin 20-something sisters in Austin, Texas. Jeannie, who lives a full life despite being confined to a wheelchair, co-owns a vintage-clothing boutique. Sister Lauren is between jobs and boyfriends, and is...
- 8/7/2009
- by By V.A. MUSETTO
- NYPost.com
Whether he likes it or not -- and we're talking about a director whose characters feel so much ambivalence that you can practically see it radiating off of them in waves -- Andrew Bujalski has become the patron saint of the burgeoning grassroots indie movement misleadingly known as mumblecore. (The people in these films may not know for sure what they want, but they articulate their rococo indecision loud and clear.) To be honest, it's a movement I've mostly resisted thus far, if only because movies are among my few avenues of escape from dithering white postgrads. But while Bujalski's first two features, "Funny Ha Ha" (2002) and "Mutual Appreciation" (2005), too frequently come across as less than the sum of their circumlocutions, his latest effort, "Beeswax," represents an encouraging leap forward. For the first time, he's placed his hapless folk within a recognizable real-world milieu -- one in which people have...
- 8/5/2009
- by Mike D'Angelo
- ifc.com
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