Apart from That

An excellent film depicting the cross currents in the lives of a multi-ethnic mix of not so ordinary people in the rural Pacific Northwest. Solid directing and writing along with fine acting, especially the performances by Kwami Taha and Dan Stowe. Interestingly, this film was made in the same year as the highly successful "Crash," written and directed by Paul Haggis. The pace of the action may not be as frantic as that in urban Los Angeles, and the characters may seem to be better acquainted with each other in "Apart From That," but the personal relationships of the characters are as flawed and troubled and their stories as resonant as any of those in "Crash." For those viewers who appreciated "Crash" this is a must see film. Also, fans of Jim Jarmusch and John Cassavetes will like this movie.

It's necessary to be open to new forms of cinema, just as cinema needs to be open to real life. Just as effective marketing (brainwashing) can boost one's enjoyment (and the ticket sales) of a relatively artless blockbuster, so can a knowledge of the artist's technique boost one's enjoyment of a largely experimental work.

Shainin and Walker are nothing if not inventive. They make a loose story, find non-actors who can come across effectively as the characters as well as improvising, make two independent edits and then distil it down to two hours. The initial flow of the camera around a party feels like a Virginia Woolf novel, a stream of consciousness across an onslaught of characters but with little clue as to what to grasp onto as important. Unlike Woolf however, who used the technique to cull the significant from the seemingly superficial and unimportant, Shainin and Walker go from superficiality to dysfunctionality. Skimming the veneer from a cross-section of barely related individuals, they present us with people that neither satisfy their dreams, nor have much point to their existence. They are neither intelligent or make the best of what they have, and the film, apart from revelling in its own innovativeness, forces us to find some delight in their quirkiness in a way that is neither uplifting or beautiful. Apart From That is the sort of art-house belch that critics fall over each other to say how clever it is without once being able to say why.

"She was still physically strong, just didn't have any software left," is, in the first few minutes, one of the strongest lines in the film. As the lives of five of the partygoers are unravelled with all excitement of a long, loose thread coming off a patchwork quilt, we conceive it may apply to Peggy, an old lady who likes taking most of her clothes off and then phoning the fire brigade. Equally pathetic (and when it is shot with such realism should we laugh?) is the boss who makes a mess of firing his friend and is called to account by his son, who gets him to play act the scene. Peggy's lodger, Ulla, tape records the irritating sounds in her irritating landlady's house, such as the refrigerator. Leo is a native American Indian whose best friend is dying and doesn't know what to do. Apart From That is like dystopian Reality TV.

All the characters want to be loved or liked, without being either lovable or likable. I started wondering at what point do we start to care for someone? At what point did any of the characters start to become interesting? Not at the point where a fat woman gets her head and arms stuck in a dress. Perhaps when we see that they are trying, however ineptly.

Apart From That is a composite rather than linear story - a bit like Magnolia only with less redeeming characters, lower production values and, like its characters, with even less tangible point for existing (for all the innovative development, the end product seems rather derivative, rather like a Todd Solondz movie on a tight budget). It paints an unlikeable picture of 'ordinary' Americans as pathetic, as people who are loved only out of duty. Whether it is art or simply art for art's sake may best be answered by whether it still seems so imaginative when considered a few years from now, when the tendency to embrace its avant-garde pretensions have vanished or been vindicated (that question alone may make any serious watchers of cinema rush out to see it). Perhaps by then I will have changed my opinion; for now, this two hours of reel life, imaginatively made, sadly has little to say about anything beyond its own brilliant, idiosyncratic quirkiness.

This is one of those movies where I wish I had just stayed in the bar.

The film is quite frankly boring. What story there is is very flimsy and you pretty much have to guess at it. The film indulges itself with pretentious camera techniques that seem intent on causing migraines and makes it look like a student film. Did I say it was boring already? If all the characters had suddenly died at the end of the movie I would not have cared less as I had no emotional attachment to any of them.

There are about 4 good minutes in this movie, but that was about it. This is the first time I have ever considered walking out of a cinema during a performance, but I held on believing that it had to get better. I was wrong.

The sort of film you could threaten naughty children with.

At a time in our culture where reality exposed as narrative is overpowering fiction as we know it on the small and big screen, "Apart From That" is a film that exposes real life moments that feel more honest, fresh and innovative in there presentation than I have ever seen before. The usual spoon feeding conventions are non existent in this film, leaving a content audience to sit and watch these real life moments trickle one after the other on the screen. While watching the movie, and even upon post contemplation, it is hard to believe that these amazing performances where actually that, performances. Every moment with the large cast of actors felt like the truth being exposed in their daily usual lives. Even so, "Apart From That" does not feel like a documentary or reality television, but instead transcends into a category of its own, with its unique cinematography and direction. I look forward to watching this new category of storytelling continue with other films by directors Jennifer Shainin and Randy Walker.

This movie must be seen.

Saw this my last day at the festival, and was glad I stuck around that extra couple of days. Poetic, moving, and most surprisingly, funny, in it's own strange way. It's so rare to see directors working in this style who are able to find true strangeness and humor in a hyper-realistic world, without seeming precious, or upsetting the balance. Manages to seem both improvised, yet completely controlled. It I hesitate to make comparisons, because these filmmakers have really digested their influences (Cassavetes, Malick, Loach, Altman...the usual suspects) and found their own unique style, but if you like modern directors in this tradition (Lynne Ramsay, David Gordon Greene), you're in for a real treat. This is a wonderful film, and I hope more people get to see it. If this film plays in a festival in your city, go! go! go!