esrosedotblog

YA' KNOW WHAT I MEAN?

Today's film by was Andrew Bujalski's

BEESWAX (2009)

This is a little gem of a film. It seems, at first, as an inconsequential slice of life focusing on the Y generation. Or maybe it is Z.

Things just sort of happen.

And then, we begin to decipher what is going on. What is meant by "I don't know" or "Well........" or "Just cliff me".

We begin to see how the sisters are opposite numbers. How their friends intercede in their personal lives. How people really do not "mind their own beeswax".

There is a funny scene when the mother says "I don't want to be a buttinsky" and the twin doesn't know what she means. She doesn't even know what it means when it is explained. It not only is an old fashioned term it is totally at odds with the twin's culture.

Of course, twins do have boundary problems but then no one in this film has any grasp of the term.

This is one of those things that are like dot paintings. Up close they don't mean a lot but seen in mass or from a distance. patterns form and there is a delicate precision to the insights to be gained.

The analogy of the beehive holds for the way all these people operate together. They talk about one another behind their backs. They intercede without being asked to.

The actors in this film are all amateurs. They lack the gloss to keep us out of their psyches. They are being these people. The whole film is very unslick.

The men are also quite homely. No one is good looking except the twins and I am sure that this is intentional. I will think about why.

The ending is precipitous. Don't look for resolution. And that is the point here. There will be none.

I enjoyed this film a good deal. I was outside it for awhile then it grabbed me. Somewhere when I realized that one of the characters was definitely minding his own beeswax and I was the only person who saw it. I wanted to shout at him and them.

I will give it a 4 out of Netflix5.

I will want to see Mr. Bujalski's other two films.

See the next note about ratings.

Labels: films