Way Off Broadway

Just saw this at a test screening that the distributor had... very enjoyable indie... It's the story of several post college friends that are trying to find themselves and see if they have what it takes to follow their dreams... The story is told in a very adult, mature way, and looks great on the screen. The director talked about shooting the film on super 16mm as opposed to video... and the added expense to shoot on film was well worth it!

I just watched this film in Cleveland last night and I have to say I was surprised by it. This is an original film, that does not take the expected route all the time which I really enjoy. The writing was good and the acting was believable. I just cannot define it - I mean I get the same chemistry film from this cast as you would a movie like The Big Chill or Sleepers,only definitely not as heavy or dark in the subject matter but more in the way the characters flowed and worked well together and you could expect watching the film that you were watching these peoples lives. The one thing that stood out scene wise was when one character talked about school preparing you for success but not for failure. It made me think of this movie's message from my perspective as sometimes perhaps failure is the key to success, cause at one point all these characters seemed flawed enough to fail on some level but at the end of the film they seem to have discovers success as a result of their own failure. Or at least that was my take on it. If you get a chance to see this movie take it.

Okay, this movie has some problems, but there are some great things about it. In general, the cast is really good and the chemistry between the two leads is great. There is an oral sex scene in there that is hilarious (as is the actor playing the blowee -- bill dawes) and there are some nice performances all around. The tunnel carpal subplot could go away as far as I'm concerned, and so could that character. Introducing a character who has just used his t-shirt to wipe himself is not the best way to endear said character to the audience. Malena is also very beautiful and I wouldn't be surprised if she became the next it girl. The director, Dan Kaye, has made a decent first film and I'm curious to see what he does in the future. Hopefully, he will get out of the myopic and well-tred world of actors and artist in New York trying to figure out what to do with their lives. All in all, a sweet film worth watching.