So I caught this on Showtime yesterday, and I have to say it has me a little puzzled. It was clearly shot on video and made on a low budget, a decent film overall but not particularly great - and I felt the acting, especially the lead actress, just wasn't up to par. The writing was decent, but a lot of the dialogue came off pretty unnatural because of the actors. It felt like a slightly forced knock-off of "Before Sunrise" but without the chemistry that made that film work.
I was just a little surprised that Showtime was running it as it seemed out of place for the type of stuff they normally run, even for independent films.
So then I looked it up online, and... 85% from 48 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes? From wikipedia - Winner, 2009 Independent Spirit Award: John Cassavetes Award, National Board of Review - Top 10 Independent Film 2008, and "Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle named it the 9th best film of 2008, and Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter named it the 10th best film of 2008."
Now I feel like I'm going crazy here - it really came across to me as a middle-of-the-board no-budget indie. Not bad, but just nothing much to make it stand out from a lot of similar films. I mean, I don't want to be too harsh on it or the filmmakers - it's certainly nice achievement for the reported budget, but that alone isn't enough to make a great film.
Has anyone else seen it? What am I missing here?
I was just a little surprised that Showtime was running it as it seemed out of place for the type of stuff they normally run, even for independent films.
So then I looked it up online, and... 85% from 48 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes? From wikipedia - Winner, 2009 Independent Spirit Award: John Cassavetes Award, National Board of Review - Top 10 Independent Film 2008, and "Kimberly Jones of The Austin Chronicle named it the 9th best film of 2008, and Stephen Farber of The Hollywood Reporter named it the 10th best film of 2008."
Now I feel like I'm going crazy here - it really came across to me as a middle-of-the-board no-budget indie. Not bad, but just nothing much to make it stand out from a lot of similar films. I mean, I don't want to be too harsh on it or the filmmakers - it's certainly nice achievement for the reported budget, but that alone isn't enough to make a great film.
Has anyone else seen it? What am I missing here?