Uncle Kent

Do-it-yourself filmmaker Joe Swanberg is beginning to become "the Woody Allen of mumblecore" with me in the regard that whether or not I like one of his films I'm comforted by the notion that he will indeed make more films that will hopefully surpass the one I just watched. Mumblecore - the infamous independent movement that Swanberg helped pioneer - is a very tricky genre to tackle because your response will largely be devoted based on how much you like the characters and believe their struggle.

In 2011, Swanberg directed, starred, and pioneered a shocking seven feature films, one of them being Uncle Kent. Swanberg's prolific-status is one of his biggest benefits but also one of his biggest curses. It allows for his great ideas to be released to the public quickly (take Hannah Takes the Stairs, which I think will resonate with many post-college students), but also leads to some of his ideas being half-baked and underdeveloped (his descent into the horror genre with Silver Bullets).

Uncle Kent centers around the title character (Kent Osborne), who is a kid's show cartoonist that is often found secluded in his apartment, smoking pot, and batting off ideas for his show, usually with his best friend. Unfortunately, Kent is extremely lonely as he is into his early forties and can't hold down a stable relationship. He attempts to crush this stifling feeling of loneliness by trying to get in touch with Kate (Jennifer Prediger), a woman he met on the popular video-chatting service Chatroulette. Kate is an environmental journalist, who, despite Kent's true affection for her, still can't shake the love she possesses for her boyfriend. We watch their relationship unfold throughout the course of one long weekend.

There are two things that seem very commonplace in Swanberg films, and they're two things I do not object to in the slightest. One is relationships and interactions through the use of social media. Swanberg seems genuinely fascinated by the way human-communication has evolved with the birth of the internet and the birth of webcams, chatrooms, texting, etc. His choice to focus on a relationship that would've never even seen the light of day without the creation of the internet is nicely realistically portrayed on screen.

The other thing is the way the characters talk to each other, in an open, conversational, often sexually explicit way. They don't beat around the bush - per-say - and dive right into intimate conversations about sex, masturbation, and other topics that have been sheltered in mainstream cinema, only emerging as subjects we laugh at. Very few films feature characters that will openly show you how they masturbate and even fewer will show it in a serious light.

Uncle Kent is no burden on the viewer, at only seventy-two minutes in length and seemingly flying by in half-the-time. Swanberg perfectly introduces us to these characters, lets us form an opinion on them, and then gives us just about as much humanity and soul into the project that a film like this needs to work. If it hadn't been stuck with an ending that fails to summarize the excursion or tie it together in an efficient way, I'd may call it a small little masterpiece.

Starring: Kent Osborne, Jennifer Prediger, and Joe Swanberg. Directed by: Joe Swanberg.

Found the film interesting, and certainly was worth watching. I found the review previously posted to be way to harsh in that the film was obviously shot the way it was, (shots from flip cam, lighting choices in certain scenes etc.) to create voyeuristic feel to the story. I was left wanting more resolution at the end. That was one of the only things I saw in this film, in my opinion, that was a problem for me.I did however find the editing on this film to appear more as a rough cut the a fine cut and I believe the story could have would have advanced a lot smoother, with some of the seemingly long clips for no apparent reason to simply been shortened. As a filmmaker myself, I find it encouraging for all filmmakers, to see a film with this kind of a budget get the attention of Sundance.

Well I just saw this movie on Sundance Channel and I am pondering to myself as to why I just wasted 72 minutes of my life on this. It had a very poor story line, almost like a poor knock off of The 40 Year Old Virgin except the fact the main character wasn't a virgin, obviously and was just pitifully pathetic (if that makes any sense). If this movie had to be done for reasons unbeknownst to me, they could've cut a lot of unnecessary crap in the middle. It could've been and should have much shorter. I too must have missed whatever deep and profound meaning that was supposed to have been embedded in this, whatever it was because I didn't get it.

I thought Uncle Kent was funny and well directed with some great ideas. The movie flips back and forth between using regular cameras and using the main character's Flipcam which gives it a really cool style that certainly suits the story and tone of the movie. Characters like Kent, Kate, and Kev were all fleshed out nicely. I enjoyed this movie quite a bit. The acting was great as you grow to both love and hate certain characters. The only thing stopping this movie from being an 8 or 9 is a more resolute ending. Sometimes just giving us the tip of the iceberg works, sometimes it doesn't. Regardless, I would love to see more by the team behind this movie and I'm not surprised at all to see it made it to Sundance 2011.

This movie had a message but it could have been told in 20 minutes vs 72. Long inane clips that did not add to the story. Editing was disparately needed.

A story of a sad newly 40 male with a pathetic, lonely, boring life. He falls into a male fantasy weekend which was a great story poorly told.

Filmed apparently on a FlipCam the camera movement almost made me sick at times. I love that a film could be made on a FlipCam. Regrettably, the lighting was at times so poor you could not make out the actors faces. Also because of the low resolution the film was pixelated on the large screen. I have no idea why this film made the cut for Sundance. I watched it with my wife at 10pm during the Sundance Film Festival. We should have gone to bed and skipped the trek from Park City to the Red Stone Theater at that late hour. My wife is still angry at me for making her sit through it.

Maybe I missed something artful or profound....if so it was well hidden. I hope so because someone put in a lot of effort and hope in making this film.