Donald Cried

What this movie is really about is the joy of performing. Wakeman and Avedisian play off each other as beautifully as Peter Falk and Alan Arkin in The In-Laws, Mickey Rourke and Eric Roberts in Pope of Greenwich Village and Thomas Haden Church and Paul Giamatti in Sideways. Two polar opposites are forced together for 24 hours, Avedisian presses Wakeman's buttons and the suspense is when Wakeman is going to blow. Wakeman, much like Arkin, is a great slow burner. And Avedisian pulls off the trick of being one of the biggest losers in the history of film but still remain strangely sympathetic. It's amazing to see that they've done so little else because they seem like seasoned pros at acting for the camera. What's also amazing is that they were able to film in such large quantities of snow with no continuity issues. What in the world would they have done if the temps shot up to 50 degrees and all the snow melted? In any event, somehow the snow adds something. The movie has a real lived in feel and made me laugh out loud at least a dozen times. Maybe it's just me but movies set in cold weather always seem to turn out well. Would make a great double feature with the gentler, but no less idiosyncratic or entertaining, indie flick Cold Weather.

'DONALD CRIED': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An indie comedy, that I first heard about on Instagram (when they kept liking all of my pictures), directed by debut feature filmmaker Kristopher Avedisian. Avedisian also stars in the movie, as the title role, and he co-wrote the screenplay as well, with Kyle Espeleta and Jesse Wakeman (all debut feature screenwriters). The film costars Wakeman, Louisa Krause and Ted Arcidi. It tells the story of a man, named Peter, who returns to his small hometown when his grandmother dies, and runs into his old (very awkward) childhood friend Donald. The two spend the day together, when Donald agrees to do Peter a favor, and they recollect on many old memories together. The film premiered at the 2016 South by Southwest film festival, and it's now available for viewing on Netflix. I found it to be extremely awkward, and uncomfortable to watch, but it's also oddly true to life, and somewhat moving.

Peter Latang (Wakeman) returns to his hometown, after being gone for many years, when his grandmother passes away. He's eager to take care of the funeral arrangements for her, and then leave town as quickly as possible. Peter realizes that he doesn't have access to any cash though. So he visits his old long lost childhood friend Donald (Wakeman), and asks him for help. Donald has been obsessively waiting for Peter to return, since he left, and he'll do anything to spend more time with him. So Peter reluctantly gets dragged around by Donald, for the entire day, being forced to revisit old memories that he desperately wants to forget.

The movie is so awkward that it's painful to sit through at times. Donald is a very unique, quirky and sometimes very annoying character, but he's also an extremely sympathetic one too. We can tell that Peter used to be a pretty big jerk to Donald, at least at times, but Donald still cherished their friendship together (that Peter obviously didn't think very highly of). This is something I can really relate to, with some of my friends. In a lot of ways I can really relate to the Donald character in this movie, but I'd definitely say he's a far more exaggerated version of myself (at the very least). This is why I really liked this film. The two lead performances are fantastic, and they seem like genuine real people (as exaggerated as they might seem at times even). It's a really well made movie in that way, but it's perhaps just a little too dark, awkward and depressing at times too.

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Poor Peter. Years after successfully escaping his small-town for the big city, the dapper financier is forced to return to collect his grandmother's ashes. This leads to a very uncomfortable reunion. Peter has obviously moved on, literally and figuratively, but not his old neighbor pal Donald. Nope. Donald is still the same old high school hoser, super keen to rekindle the good old days.

It's a classic premise, that works well on a cringe, comedic level, as Peter, the desperate, reluctant hostage tries valiantly to escape the eager clutches of the oblivious Donald, who seems to be dealing with some disturbing baggage.

"Donald Cries" twists that old formula just enough to explore several deeper issues, and the film grows fuller as the characters reveal themselves.

Writer, director, star Kris Avedisian is quite the talent, and his take on the wide-eyed, gung ho man-child Donald is a character for the ages.

"Donald" (2016 release; 85 min.) brings the story of two guys who were best friends in high school. As the movie opens, we get to know Peter, who is returning to his home town in Rhode Island after 20 years away to deal with the passing of his grandmother. As it happens, Peter realizes he forgot or lost his wallet on the bus ride up from Manhattan, and in a pinch, decides to look up his high school buddy Donald to hopefully get some help. Donald is absolutely delighted to see Peter again after all these years. At this point we are 10 min. into the movie, but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this movie is nothing short of a labor of love for Kris Avedisian, as he writes, directs, stars (as Donald) and produces (on a shoe-string budget, and funded in part through Kickstarter). The 2016 feature-length is based on the 2012 short film of the same name, and also starring Avedisian and Jesse Wakeman (as Peter). The subject matter is on the one hand the uncomfortable feeling Peter has returning to the place where he couldn't wait to escape from 20 years ago after high school, and on the other hand the unresolved emotion toll the high school years have taken on Donald (for whom time seemingly has stood still the last 20 years). I must tell you, I was quite uncomfortable myself watching the first half of the movie and almost decided to cut bait, but then an interesting thing happened: I became emotionally invested in these flawed characters, and I needed to find out how all of this would be resolved. The movie reminds in some ways of last year's outstanding "Krisha", from actor-writer-director-producer Trey Edward Shults. Plus anyone that has the guts to place a song from the so-uncool-they're-cool-again-NOT! Milli Vanilli ("Girl I'm Gonna Miss You" plays over the movie's end credits) gets extra brownie point in my book!

"Donald Cried" showed up this past weekend out of the blue and without any pre-release ads or hype at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati. The Tuesday evening screening where I saw this at was surprisingly well attended, given to low-to-no profile this movie has gotten. I didn't know much of the film and took a flyer on it. Glad I did. This movie is definitely "off center" and probably not for everyone, but as already mentioned I ultimately found myself invested in it. If you've seen "Krisha" and liked that, I'd readily recommend you seek this out as well, be it in the theater, or eventually on VOD (no idea if this will ever make it to DVD/Blu-ray).

Three friends: Kris Avedisian, Kyle Espeleta and Jesse Wakeman felt the creative urge to expand Donald Cried from a short-film into an 85-minute feature. The whole backstory to the making of Donald, reflects other conscientious film-makers like John Cassavetes, who felt driven to make a film because they truly loved and believed in a project; wanting to share it with everybody, rather than the cynical need to debase cinema for financial gain or status.

Shot almost entirely hand-held, in a documentary style; the colours and image quality for the video are surprisingly lush given the budget constraints. The framing of the local amenities and spots set in deep snow are also alluring. It may sound facetious, yet as a Brit, I found locations and atmosphere of Warwick, R.I, fascinating, even exotic. The film is reminiscent of other indie classics such as Buffalo '66 and Garden State, in that in makes the everyday and mundane seem architectural and beautiful. The excellent use of non- actors (friends and family) on screen, brings Cassavetes to mind again.

Admittedly, at times, some of the camera work is shoddy and a bit amateur; yet it doesn't distract from the narrative which is engrossing throughout. What's most astounding about the film, is the 'almost too real' dynamics between the central characters. In 85-mins, we, as the viewer endure many all the tensions and emotions you'd experience between old friends. Its clear that Avedisian and Wakeman have known each other for a long time, and they brilliantly capitialise on their relationship in the film.

'If the audience knew what they wanted then they wouldn't be the audience, they would be the artist.'

There is space for the art in-amongst the endless Star Wars and Transformers reboots and sequels; alongside conscientious and personal films like these. It's our job as an audience to remind film cinema chains, film producers and studios executives of this; then we should leave the artists to do theirs.