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Life & Arts

‘Mutual' a true indie portrait of youth 

by AUSTIN HAVICAN 
The Daily Cougar

It' s hard to avoid mentioning YouTube when the topic of new independent film comes up. The popular Web site features user-generated content whose short films are , by definition, independent productions. Although they aren' t actually films -- most of the home movies are done with camcorders and desktop editing applications -- they are closer to genuine independence than Target' s Independent Film Collection selection.

Just because Lost In Translation wasn' t a huge Hollywood blockbuster flick, the annoying "Think Indie" sticker on the DVD doesn' t necessarily negate Bill Murray' s star role and the film' s $4 million budget.

A true example of independent film is usually a low-budget project that has something to say about life or humanity. Without the restrictions of a major studio, a writer and director have the freedom to make a film that isn' t dumbed down for the American masses.

Mutual Appreciation is the best and most recent example of such a film. Writer and director Andrew Bujalski' s second feature, to use an awful cliché, is arguably the defining film for the current generation of Americans in their late 20s.

Bujalski' s characters aren' t the common rebellious archetypes of independent cinema, but instead a group of kids who are confused and anxious about where they' re going. He uses non-actors -- usually his friends -- to play characters that are practically based on themselves.

Alan, the protagonist, is the only member left in a rock group called The Bumblebees, and has just moved to New York to further his music career. Through carefully scripted dialogue between his best friend Lawrence, and Lawrence' s girlfriend, Ellie, we find a more refined story about what it means to be in a relationship and how to deal with the post-graduation ennui that plagues so many young people in a "quarter-life crisis."

The most notable aspect of the film is the unique writing style Bujalski applied to the character' s dialogue. The conversations are awkward and filled with abrupt pauses, interruptions and silences. Every conversation in the film is so realistic, the New York Times couldn' t help asking Bujalski how much of it was improvised. 

"I' ve gotten that at every q&a," Bujalski said. "I could have said, ‘This is now a question I' ve answered 100 times, so I have a scripted response, but I' m also making it up as I go along, so maybe this is a good analogy for how it works.' "

It' s worth noting that Mutual Appreciation was filmed on black and white 16 millimeter film and edited the old fashioned way.

"There' s a deliberateness to film," he told the New York Times. "If these films were on video they would feel a lot more frivolous. ..."

The DVD comes with a small, silly "children' s book" of Bujalski' s experience at a European film festival drawn on post-it notes.

Bujalski' s honest look at young Americans almost perfectly examines the anxiety of fleeting youth and fear of an uncertain future. His characters struggle to network and get somewhere, while still having fun and drinking beer, all within the careful scope of an actual independent film.

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