Little Athens

Tom Zuber has great credentials in Law but seems to prefer to dabble in the territory of cinema. Having not seen his debut film LANSDOWN (2001) it is difficult to judge from LITTLE ATHENS (2005) if he is improving with age, but looking at LITTLE ATHENS on its own merits it seems a bit sparse in idea and in production.

Athens, Arizona is the bleak setting of this day in the lives of some fairly bored (and boring) youngsters, ne're-do-wells attempting to infuse sparkle into an otherwise glitterless place. Zuber creates four story lines, spottily interweaves them, and finally connects the dots in the last reel. The main problem is that comedy is funny because we care about the facilitators and here there really aren't any folks in which to invest. The cast tries hard and succeeds in giving us a taste of life in the flatlands of nothingville. D.J. Qualls (a character type who is very good, as in 'Hustle and Flow'), Michael Pena, John Patrick Amedori, Shawn Hatosi, Tory Kittles, Eric Szmanda, Jorge Garcia, Erica Leerhsen, and Michelle Horn are particularly fine and do their best with the material they are given.

Tom Zuber has a style, a sense of non-scripted spontaneity incorporating the gross with the sadsack, and given time he may make a fine little film. This one just misses. Grady Harp

this movie definitely hits something. it isn't the best movie i've ever seen but its one of the best of its type. it had some really great actors in it, even if most wouldn't agree to that. part of the reason i think this was such a good movie is because it is so real and it is really what goes on in peoples lives in small towns. i'm from a pretty small town and even high school this is what people are doing. its crazy to think that things like this aren't actually as far away from my life as it may seem. the acting in this is great because in some places, even if it may seem as if the acting is crappy, it really isn't. the actors are able to get into the character and let that person take control which is what makes them look and sound like real people and not just actors. i definitely would recommend this to anyone who needs a little dose of reality...if there wasn't so much cussing it would be a good movie to show in health classes when the life units happen...but yeah basically good movie :]

Saw this movie tonight as part of the Indianapolis International Film Festival. Had been looking forward to this one, largely due to the cast and the fact that these types of stories usually are told more realistically by independent filmmakers.

Unfortunately, I found the acting to be almost embarrassingly bad, the characters had no depth and no redeeming qualities, and the running time of 109 minutes felt more like 3 hours. I kept waiting for something to happen, and waiting and waiting.

Now, there are 2 positives this film has going for it. The soundtrack is actually quite good, and includes songs by SuperTramp, Radiohead, Ima Robot, The Vacation and The Walkmen just to name a few.

The cast is definitely attractive and there are some new faces that definitely show some promise. I was surprised to see Shawn Hatosy (The Faculty) in yet another throwaway role. After The Faculty, I actually thought he would become one of the major young Hollywood players, but he keeps turning up in films that in my opinion are a waste of his talents.

I really wanted to like this film and then tell everyone I knew to go see it, but now all I can say is save your money and use that 109 minutes to do something else....you will never get them back.

Just a side note: There were about 50 people of mixed ages in the audience. Two separate couple got up and left within the first 10 minutes, I have no idea if it was the film or something else. The person that I went with, actually enjoyed the movie quite a bit, so it may just that it didn't appeal to me. Unlike other films during the festival, there was no applause after the film and only a handful of attendees stayed for the credits.

This excellently-crafted film follows the lives of a group of post-high school graduates (or dropouts), late teens and early twenty-somethings for whom college is not an option. There are 4 stories which proceed independently of each other, occasionally passing off the baton from one to the next, but eventually all coming together.

Little Athens is a slice of life in a relatively lifeless environment -- a small town called Athens, but it could be any small town just about anywhere. Certainly, anyone who grew up in such a place knows it well. There isn't a whole lot to do. So you do what you can to get by. These characters' lives are about who you're dating, used to date, or would like to date, who you're cheating on and who's cheating on you, who's doing drugs and who's selling them, getting jobs and getting fired, getting into trouble and staying out of trouble, and trying to figure out who you are in a town where nobody amounts to much unless you leave. Stay and you're stuck, so you may as well make the best of it. In a town with no rock concerts, no sports arena, no dance clubs, no mall, and no multiplex, there's no drama. And when the drama doesn't exist without, you create it from within. Nature abhors a vacuum, so these young people fill the void by creating their own conflicts, because it's so much easier to be discontent than not.

If it sounds sad, well, where there's pity there's sympathy. And where there's sympathy there's comfort. We know these people. And that cuts to the heart of what makes this film what it is -- this brilliant young cast does what good actors are supposed to do -- they make these characters real. You never get the feeling that this is scripted, or has been rehearsed -- and the camera similarly stays out of the way.

Most of the film is shot in widescreen 35MM, as if to emphasize how small these characters are set against the bleak landscape of this town. We are watching them from a distance, just observers, taking it all in and allowing us to slowly invest ourselves in these people. The last portion of the film uses hand-held 16MM, as the four separate story lines come together towards the climax of the film. Now we are there, with them, because now that we know them we are allowed into their world.

The aspects of the film which stand out the most in my mind are the performances and the music. The acting is just spot on. It's always hard to single anyone out in an ensemble cast, but John Patrick Amedori's Jimmy is arguably the most sympathetic character in a film where you tend to feel sorry for everyone. He's perfectly cast -- the story had to have one sometimes sad but hopeful puppy-dog, and he's it.

The other highlight for me was the music, but that's always my weakness. After the acting and the soundtrack comes Tom Zuber's intricate story, told with the luxury of one able to write it, produce it, direct it, and edit it. He should be extremely proud of this work.

I have to start by saying it took me a solid hour to figure out that Athens is the town the movie takes place in. That being said, this movie's got big intentions and they are realized. I saw it with a great crowd, so the mood was cool. I won't ruin it, but the scene where the Jimmy character steals drugs from his dealer is classic. Really really good, and the female characters are super real which is something I don't think most movies have. My friends and I talked about the movie for an hour afterward. The guys are great, especially Michale Pena and John Patrick Amedori. Eric Szmanda has some very funny scenes as well which is great after seeing him in the same role every week on CSI. I loved the way the movie looks.