runamokprods Intelligent, very low key mumble-core comedy/ drama that I liked better on reflection than while I was first watching it. While I was viewing, the lack of plot and forward motion seemed frustrating. But looking back I found all the little honest moments of human weirdness that Bujalski captured with his (apparently) semi-improvised style gave me more of a real look into the lives of these late 20 somethings than I would have gotten from a more plot driven narrative. And there IS a plot – about careers, about commitments, and about friendship. The tension over whether two friends who co-own a shop are actually going to sue each other over how the store is run is palpable, if not heart pounding. It's just the focus is more on details than on the big picture -- which is actually a lovely change from most films out there. Kudos too for having a lead character in a wheelchair and a) not making that the most important thing about her, and b) allowing her to be sexy, sexual, funny, angry, grumpy – all the things people with challenged lives rarely are in movies.

scarletminded Don't tell me I don't get mumblecore. This film is boring and I can watch avant garde films which are only static frames of buildings and I like talking films like Metropolitan. Nothing happens. OK, someone hit the record button and people move and talk, but it never goes anywhere. It's like being a fly on the wall at the most tedious hippie indie store ever, with people who act like they have something to say or go to rallies for equal rights in marriage. But those things they seem not to have a real opinion on. The struggles of the film are as follows: one of the owners of the store might be sued by the other but there is little to no development of that plot line, then the clerk of the store gets the tape suck in the machine but not in a funny way, just in a normal "I don't know what to do" way, later she is crying...but I am not even sure why...I think no one even cares to ask. Is that the point of this exercise? It reminds me of an unscripted movie like Paranormal Activity, but with no action whatsoever, no ghosts, nothing to talk about except the most banal things. No opinions. No ideas. It's not even shot that well. It is sort of like the director got people together, hit the record button and released whatever came out, because it would be mumblecore genius and someone would watch it. I watched it, but kept leaving the room to do things here and there, because it was like being around boring sort of liberal hippie college types that smoked too much to create thoughts of any meaning. The average person will have a profound thought now and then...or even more. If the director is making a point about reality TV and superficial people...it's been done to death, hundreds of times and better. People's heads are even out of frame for long periods of time. It's odd, but not in an intellectual way.I noticed there was a piece of the actual 16mm film in the DVD I got from the library. No one bothered stealing it because it might be worth something. It isn't! :)

jeffreydotfong I have never been so awkward for 100 odd minutes in my life. The dialog was pointless, there was no story and the characters were not interesting at all.Most scenes I was pressing up against the cinema chairs so hard in an awkward squirm I think I may have bent them.The film revolves around flighty no-hopers that you can only feel sorry for. Otherwise, they were so annoying and agonising, I just felt like clawing my eyeballs out with a spoon.I understand this was an alternative film. And I guess a pointless, boring and frustrating film is alternative. But it was by no means enjoyable.Best quote I heard after the film "Eh? I don't get it", "Come on I'll explain on the ferry, hurry up I don't want to miss it. This night has been enough of a disaster already".Thanks to the NZ international film festival for wasting 2 hours of my life. Pretty disappointing.

druid333-2 'Beeswax' is Andrew Bujalski's third feature film after two other independent features dealing with young,urbane 20 & 30-something hipsters (his two other feature films are 'Funny Ha,Ha' & 'Mutual Appreciation',as well as a short film,unseen by yours truly). This time,Bujalski's lens is turned to an area of Texas that may well be Austin. Two sisters,both fraternal twins,Lauren (played by Maggie Hatcher),and her wheelchair bound sister,Jeannie (Tilly Hatcher)share an apartment. Jeannie operates a vintage clothing shop that seems to be on the brink of collapse,due to the fact that Jeannie's business partner,Amanda (Anne Dodge)seems to want to drop out as a partner,but not before she decides to sue Jeannnie. Jeannie is getting very close to Lauren's ex boyfriend,Merrill (Alex Karpovsky),a would be lawyer who is just a breath away from passing his bar exam. Other characters drop in & out of this finely written & directed film (by Bujalski himself,who also wore a third hat as editor)that has to take it's time to sink under your skin to get the very real & true "fly on the wall" feel to it (the pacing is somewhat slow,but it's worth sticking with it until the end). Comparisons to the French film director,Eric Rohmer,or even John Cassavetes will be duly noted. This is a film with characters that are more real than the current dredge of cinedreck,conjured up by Hollywood...and certainly WAY more real than any of the (so called)reality TV shows that one can rot their brains on television with, can do. No MPAA rating,but contains some brief strong language & adult situations that would probably only land it a PG-13 rating if it was submitted,at the most.