Monday, November 20, 2006

me and you and everyone we know

films on american suburbs films specialize in quirks. every one has one and somehow they seem to stem from the odd domestic loneliness that is claimed to be hidden under the mowed lawns, picket fences and island kitchens of suburbia. in this one a digital video artist finds love with a shoe salesman who has just separated from his wife and lived with his two sons. as they move into the new neighbourhood they encounter a series of odd people of all ages- each with their particular eccentricities. somehow thugh the film manages to save itself from the clichés by embracing them without ridiculing them. the movie ends up being moving in spite of sometimes self-consciously attempting profundity constantly in the everyday- like the scene where a goldfish is caught on top of a speeding car. another staple of the american suburban film is the sex – preferably pre-teen sex. eric fischl painted these scenes – gruesome and fantastical – like they were the archetypes of a civilization. in this movie there they were - the older woman, the young virgin, the adolescent male and a child who can hardly spell who has the most depraved cyber sex with an unknown stranger.

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