Dance Party, USA

This is a beginner movie. The story is lost in long pauses in the dialogue. And like a telenovela, one can fast forward without losing anything. At least, when they filmed on actual film the time meant money. Now the time means time, and that the whole team seems to have in excess. The script is slow. The dialogue is slow. The delivery of the dialogue is even slower. The camera is annoying. The editing is bad. Overall something that had to be done in order to get the grades.

I feel each person in here has something more to offer. But they do it like it's a chore.

As far as mumblecore goes, this is the best of the lot. Why? Because it's about teenagers, so their mumbling awkwardness seems natural and unaffected. Seriously, people over 17 years old shouldn't be conversing in grunts and "yeahs" and "dudes". Which is generally why mumblecore sucks, because instead of empathising with the characters, you really just want to punch them in their idiot heads. Hence, this film comes across as an honest depiction of a naturally evolving relationship, filled with doubt, wonder, insecurities and all that other lovably solipsistic mumbo-jumbo that makes sense when it comes from TEENAGERS falling in love for the first time. Plus the final scene at the fun park is super pretty and magical and makes you wish you were a kid again.

for all its flaws, and there are quite a few (as to be expected from such a low budget, first time feature), i was rather moved by this film. what i liked about it - and what i thought set it apart from "typical" mumblecore movies - was that it was actually about something; namely, the exploration of a certain type of person. you know him, or you've seen him at parties, the guy who loudly professes his conquests, bragging about the girls he's slept with. in this film, you discover that his behavior is actually a front for his insecurity. when i saw the film, i was actually shocked that this guy, gus, was going to be the main character. in mainstream films, he's the loudmouth friend that is always relegated to supporting roles. not so here. and, by the end, we come to understand and perhaps even sympathize with him, knowing that he's taken the first small steps toward a different life.

This movie consists mostly of dialog between some inarticulate high school students. It takes place over a Fourth of July holiday. The time period appears to be in the 1970s, since there are no cell phones or compact discs, but rap music is played at a party. I could see no significance in setting the movie in a time different from when it was made. Did the filmmakers think they understood the previous generation better than their own?

As expected, the main focus is on sex and relationships. The first twenty minutes could have been cut to a few, since all that was required was to introduce us to the four main characters and establish a downbeat mood and a level of conversation where the most serious is, "Hey, how's it going?" or "What's up?" A rambling monologue about a Nebraska trip by a character who was never to be seen again seemed pointless, unless it was inserted to annoy us in the same way the guy was annoying his listeners.

The friends Bill and Gus are initially Beavis and Butthead stand-ins, but at least Gus shows some small movement toward maturity over the course of the film, whereas Bill remains totally vacuous. Anna Kavan, as Jessica, the girl whom Gus can finally see as a person rather than a sex object, creates an appealing character.

I wonder where the adults were. We see Jessica's mother in one brief scene, otherwise the teens seem to have the run of things with no limits on their drinking.

The movie has the look of a high school film project, and maybe it was. Anyway, it proves that anyone can make a movie these days.

I found it helpful to turn on the English subtitles.

Dance Party, USA is not a bad addition to the Mumblecore family in any way. It does feel cheap and kinda amateurish, but since I know thats what these movies are supposed to feel like, I won't take it out on the filmmaker.

If you even know what this movie is and are aware of this new Mumblecore movement of late, then you'll probably want to check it out. It's got some good moments in it, but for the most part its kind of boring and pointless. But again, thats really what all Mumblecore movies are, so I didn't think it was too bad.

A final note; these kind of movies really make you want to go out and make your own film. It makes you believe that all you need is a digital camera, some friends and a 70 page script and you're done. Its a bit more complicated than that, but Mumblecore is something new and something different. I can definitely see these movies becoming the new face of Independent cinema, because guys like Quentin Tarantino and Kevin Smith have made it very difficult to make Indie films along the same lines as their work.