Donald Cried

I loved this movie. 6.5? A travesty! 😊 I watch a lot of independent films, and I haven't laughed this hard since "Take Care," two years ago. I kept calling my poor husband back to the living room as he was attempting to cook, and--very rare when it comes to indies--he had a big smile on his face each time. Yet this was more than just a dark comedy. Poignant moments were there aplenty, as well.

Both actors were great, but, of course, Kris had all the hilarious, outrageous lines and personality traits which he pulled off amazingly well. So hard to see the character and think "THAT guy wrote and directed this, (along with two other writers)." I did laugh out loud at Peter's straight man when he was super annoyed towards the tail end of the "motorcycle" scene. I have an MFA in Creative Writing, and within 10 minutes, I was thinking, I need to study this dialogue, who the fudge are these actors and writers, what else have they done, and why haven't I seen or heard of them before?!

Beyond the great acting and humor--good plot, nicely flawed yet likable characters, well done in all areas, I thought. Any weaknesses in some aspects of the film don't seem worth mentioning because the plusses far outweighed them.

Thank you for making this film. I'm sure it was a difficult road for everyone, but trust me, you made a difference. You made a unique work with explosions of brilliance throughout, and I admire you. You made me happy on a blah day and inspired me. The writing was AMAZING.

See the movie. And producers-- throw money at these people! Make these guys the next Duplass brothers (I had a class with Jay in undergrad-- great guy.) I will be waiting to see what you do next.

"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).

This is sheer brilliance. Every one of us knows a Donald, and Avedisian utterly nails this one. The banal and insistent mutterings, the swing between unrealistically content to sad, the brooding underlying hurt, and the absolute killer line "I just want you to respect me." That's what all Donalds want. To be liked and respected. I keep reading that it's low budget and it probably was but I'm not sure you can tell other than it's not a mainstream Hollywood film. The story is great, the screenplay fantastic, the acting from Avedisian is sheer brilliance, so good that at first I wanted to turn it off because he was so dam annoying! There wasn't a single badly acted part from anyone, there wasn't a line of dialogue out of place or unnecessary, there wasn't a scene that wasn't believable. I'll remember this for a long time and it's my first 9 star rating in a very, very long time.

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.

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.