Funny Ha Ha (2002; IMDb says 2003)
Starring Kate Dollenmayer, Christian Rudder, Andrew Bujalski
Written and directed by Andrew Bujalski
The movie is about real life only in that it's about the lives of the people making the film -- maybe your life is totally different (mine is fairly similar except that it has a somewhat lower concentration of white people), but there's a rule of thumb that the only way a twentysomething can make a first-rate film is by making it autobiographical, Welles-sized geniuses notwithstanding. Within this study of the way this one particular social group moves, the universal is the depiction of class-within-class: no matter what your scene is, there's always the relatively cool and the relatively nerdy. Marnie swings between these poles, represented by the irresponsible yet irrepressible Alex and the radiantly hapless Mitchell. John Cassavetes's Shadows, the stylistic root of this movie, was about a black woman light-skinned enough to pass for white; here, Marnie is a nerd who's pretty enough to pass for cool. All her friends are hipsters, and they're great people, smart and funny, but fitting in with them requires a certain sense of entitlement or meta-ironic-something that's not in her nature, which is why she feels more comfortable with Mitchell -- but he's a total geek, and geeks are like, geeky. Of course she should snap out of it, either elope with Mitchell or open a bar or join the revolution, but life usually doesn't work that way.
Bujalski's adoration of his cast recalls Cameron Crowe: everybody is a star, but then again, they are all his friends. If you liked Almost Famous then you'll like this, as long as you can handle the 16mm budget. If you didn't like Almost Famous, well, this is plausibly even better so you still might like it. If you like this, watch some Charles Burnett (I'm thinking of the short When It Rains, hope you can find it) -- he explores a totally different community in a similar way.
A PLUS
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